WHEN ALL LIGHT FAILS

Lovers and former Pennsylvania State Troopers Ryan DeMarco and Jayme Matson work to establish the paternity of a child no one’s much wanted until now, when she’s wanted in all the wrong ways.

The sudden, violent resolution of the cliffhanger ending of No Woods So Dark as These (2020) leaves DeMarco, Jayme, and State Trooper Daniella Flores licking the very different wounds they received in the encounter and Silvis in no hurry to present them with a new case. When a client does approach them to do some private investigation, his request seems almost timid. District Court Judge Emeritus J.D. Morrison has gotten a letter from 9-year-old Emmaline Barrie of Branch Township, Michigan, asking whether he’s her father. Could DeMarco discreetly procure a DNA sample from Emma so that Morrison, who’d never heard of her before, can determine which of the three men who'd spent an eventful night with Jennifer Barrie 10 years ago is her father? DeMarco accepts the case, packs his RV, and heads with Jayme to Michigan, where they’re both entranced by the girl, whose mother’s rapid decline from suspected Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease has sent her to the hospital, where she’s in a medically induced coma, and left her daughter in the custody of her irresponsible, alcoholic Grandma Loey. But because they’re more and more troubled by the judge’s demand that they keep their mission secret in order to avoid compromising the three candidates for fatherhood, DeMarco decides to cancel his agreement with Morrison and go to work pro bono to answer the same question on Emma’s behalf. It’s a bighearted decision with disastrous consequences.

A soulful, deeply felt story less invested in the mystery at hand than in the mysteries of the universe.