Flesh and Blood: And Other John Jordan Stories » (1ST)

Michael Lister is a novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and playwright who lives in northwest Florida. A former prison chaplain, Michael is the author of the Blood series featuring prison chaplain/detective John Jordan. His second series features Jimmy "Soldier" Riley, a PI in Panama City during World War II (www.FloridaNoir.com). Michael also teaches college, operates a charity and community theater. www.MichaelLister.com

John Jordan is back-following POWER IN THE BLOOD and BLOOD OF THE LAMB---investigating eternal mysteries woven into the fabric of everyday life. Within the confines of seemingly ordinary cases, John explores the ineffable and inexplicable, the profoundly mysterious within the mundane.

In this diverse collection of cases, John investigates the Shroud of Turin,
a pregnant virgin, a daring prison break, a Hurricane Katrina orphan who might just be the Second Coming, a desperate woman who sleeps with one too many men, a bloody body on the rec yard, a mystery that turns on a single observation, and a murder in which John himself is the prime suspect-all this as he deals with depression and battles alcoholism.

These stories are puzzles, whodunits, and enigmas, but they are much more.
John Jordan doesn't just solve crime, he investigates the hidden heart of humanity and the mysterious world in which we live. Here are temporal answers and eternal questions, and at the center of it all, a conflicted man of faith and doubt, flawed, but faithful, who ministers mercy even as he thirsts for justice.

Publishers Weekly

In this story collection from former prison chaplain Lister (Blood of the Lamb), his fictional alter ego, John Jordan, a chaplain at a north Florida jail, investigates seven "cases" that range from standard fair play tales to explorations of faith. Some stories, such as "Bad Blood," which involves a murder on the prison grounds, are reminiscent of Ed Hoch's impossible crime tales and demonstrate talent at traditional mystery writing. Others, however, are pure parable: in "A Fountain Filled with Blood" Jordan attempts to ascertain if a 10-year-old African-American girl who survived Hurricane Katrina is really the second coming of Jesus Christ, and "Image of Blood," a study of the Shroud of Turin, has only the barest fictional trimmings. Lister's collection will appeal more to a Christian audience than general mystery readers. (Dec.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.