UHNOLY COVENANT

Briskly paced narrative of a small-town murder that pits the good police against the preacher’s bad boys.

North Carolina journalist Chandler-Willis lives in Pleasant Garden, the little town where the crime took place, and thus knew of this case from its start in 1995. In October of that year, Patricia Kimble was found shot to death and then burned in her home while her husband Ted, a local preacher’s son, was at work. It was the first homicide investigation for Church, the likable detective in charge, and Chandler-Willis details his dogged efforts to connect the murder to Patricia’s seemingly guilty husband. Ted (who had previously forged his wife’s name on a life insurance application) just didn’t seem to mourn properly—but when his alibi (Ted was at work) held up, Church turned his attention to Ted’s somewhat unstable younger brother, Ronnie. The author does not delve very deeply into personalities and character here: the police are invariably depicted as hardworking, likable, and honest, while the criminals come across as either arrogant, careless, cruel, or dimwitted. Perhaps one is handicapped when writing about people in one’s own small town, for Chandler-Willis seems intent on offending no one in Pleasant Garden (except the guilty). When a surprise confession is reported to the Reverend Jerry Falwell, who promptly notifies the authorities, police matters wind up quickly. The trials that follow are given short shrift, as though Chandler-Willis pretty much lost interest in her story once her hero, detective Church, exited center stage.

Featherweight, but sure to be popular in Pleasant Garden. (8 pp. photos)