The standout fourth entry in Jones’ Evan Wycliff mystery series sparkles, despite its protagonist, the one-time pastor of Missouri’s Evangel Baptist, finding himself at his lowest ebb. “I’m unchurched, defrocked, and if it weren’t for the boundless generosity of one Zip Zed letting me housesit a broken-down little trailer rent-free, I’d be homeless,” Wycliff declares—and that’s not even touching on his separation from his wife, Loretta, and the loss of his beloved dog, Murphy. Even the new friend he just met, an aged German who drags him out of that borrowed manufactured home for pancakes and heady conversation at the C’Mon Inn, is quickly ripped from Wycliff—and this mortal coil—by a passing F-150. But as Wycliff looks into the accident, plus a missing girl and the arrival in his patch of southwestern Missouri of a cultish end-times commune, he can’t stop thinking about the German’s warning: that someone out there could be planning to fake the Second Coming of Christ, this time through advanced digital technology. Like its predecessors, Preacher Stalls the Second Coming blends unusually humane and thoughtful procedural sleuthing with a brisk pace, winning local color, and ace scenecraft and surprises, all powered by a strong undercurrent of moral and spiritual inquiry. It won’t surprise readers of mysteries (or of newspapers) that Pastor Obadiah of the End-Times Retreat Center has secrets in his past and monetary and political entanglements with the politicians up in “Jeff City.” But Jones’s depiction of this milieu—of believers and belief, of trailer parks and superstores, of the tensions faced by the woman pastor who has replaced Wycliff—is always revealing and surprising, both warm and incisive.
Highlights abound, with a tense discussion of the Book of Revelation between Wyclif and Pastor Obadiah proving more gripping than many mysteries’ shootouts. The same goes for a scene of faith healing. Both author and detective are touchingly open to people’s better angels but not all that shocked by corruption, charlatans, and killers.
Takeaway: Standout mystery of faith, corruption, and a minister at his lowest ebb.
Comparable Titles: Ann Cleeves, Julia Spencer-Fleming.
Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
LaPuerta Books and Media announces the publication of the fourth novel in the multiple-award-winning Preacher Evan Wycliff mystery series. Fans of Gerald Everett Jones have been waiting two years for this one. Release date is March 5, 2024 in both trade paperback and e-book. Preacher Stalls the Second Coming is both timely and likely to be controversial. In its bizarre and complex plot, a crazed scientist knocks on the preacher’s door with a bizarre warning - the Deep State may be planning to fake the Second Coming of Christ with advanced virtual-reality technology. Meanwhile, a faith-healing evangelist is luring poor and homeless people to an internment camp with promises of ample food, then exhorting them to prepare for the End Times by starving themselves to death. Evan can’t ignore these unbelievable stories when a young woman from his church disappears inside the cult leader’s farm.
Previous novels in the Evan Wycliff series have won nine book awards, including Mystery Gold and Silver in the New York City Big Book Awards for the #1 and #2 titles in the same year.
Praise for the series has been effusive, especially from other authors of renowned mysteries. Writing about Preacher Finds a Corpse (#1), Marvin J. Wolf, author of the Rabbi Ben Mysteries said: “This is literature masquerading as a mystery. Carefully yet powerfully, Gerald Jones creates a small, stunning world in a tiny midwestern town, infusing each character with not just life but wit, charm, and occasionally menace. This is the kind of writing one expects from John Irving or Jane Smiley.”
On reading Preacher Fakes a Miracle (#2), M.J. Richards, Coauthor of Dishonor Thy Father, offered this endorsement: “A fast-moving mystery with twists and surprises that take you in unexpected directions. Jones is adept at creating unique and fascinating characters. His mystery sleuth is a part-timer with lots of heart who splits his time between religion, skip tracing and sometimes the metaphysical. The hero's search for a missing girl and his interactions with various eccentric individuals in the small town make him both sympathetic and compelling. A bit of a shock to learn what's really going on with the abducted young unwed mother... and amazing how it relates to real stories in the news today.”
In his review of Preacher Raises the Dead (#3), John Rachel, author of Blinders Keepers, said: “This is an excellent read. Such an engaging storyteller! It really sucked me in. The last page did cause a triple-take, quadruple-take, and whatever comes after, up to about eight. Jones is definitely one of my favorite authors.”
About this fourth book, which is his fourteenth novel, Jones explains, “Preacher Evan Wycliff is an amateur sleuth, a reluctant investigator. People in a small farm town in Southern Missouri bring him problems no one else wants to solve. Some call him a faith healer, others think he’s agnostic. He believes in the power of prayer, but he also admits he’s a skeptical inquirer: ‘If you don’t doubt, you’re not human.’”
Gerald Everett Jones is a freelance writer who lives in Santa Monica, California. He has been a longtime board member of the Independent Writers of Southern California (IWOSC) and host of the GetPublished! Radio podcast. He holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honors from the College of Letters, Wesleyan University, where he studied under novelists Peter Boynton (Stone Island), F.D. Reeve (The Red Machines), and Jerzy Kosinski (The Painted Bird, Being There).
Preacher Stalls the Second Coming will be available on March 5, 2024 from booksellers worldwide in trade paperback as well as in Kindle format from Amazon.
LaPuerta Books and Media is an imprint of La Puerta Productions, Santa Monica, California. The imprint and its logo – an open door – symbolize unlimited access to knowledge, opportunity, innovation, fascination, and delight. ###
