The Church of the Holy Child

A woman with a history of domestic abuse is reported missing and her husband is pulled in for questioning. A relationship of too little too late with the local police prompts her sister to contact a private investigator and the team of Griff Cole and Britt Callahan take the case. When the woman is later found dead, her husband is charged as the likely killer. But with the discovery of a second body exhibiting the same lethal wounds and ties to a nearby women’s shelter, questions arise and what looked like a slam-dunk becomes anyone’s guess. The case goes to John Stark, head of the Criminal Investigations Department, a veteran cop and a close friend of Griff Cole. While bodies continue to surface, one person knows where the killer is. Father Francis, a priest at The Church of the Holy Child, listens to the killer’s disturbed account of each murder and wrestles with the vows that bind him to secrecy. When Cole’s ex-wife goes missing, the case takes an unexpected and personal turn and a connection to his past and the women’s shelter points to the killer.

Patricia Hale is a writer whose essays have appeared in literary magazines and the anthology, My Heart’s First Steps. She is a member of Sister’s in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, NH Writer’s Project and Maine Writer’s and Publisher’s Alliance. She lives in Fremont, New Hampshire.