Blood of the Lamb

BLOOD OF THE LAMB by Michael Lister It's an oddity that, although many mystery and detective stories end with someone going to prison, we rarely see one that is set in a prison. (At least not the ones I usually read.) Indeed, it is often an indicator of "sensitivity" for an amateur or even professional sleuth to have a distaste or even a fear of visiting a prisoner. Michael Lister's BLOOD OF THE LAMB transgresses that convention. Most of the action takes place in a Florida penitentiary, where protagonist John Jordan is a chaplain. It's the second in a series, but the first one I've read. The story begins with a conflict between Chaplain Jordan and the warden, who has gone over Jordan's head and arranged a visit to the prison by a well-known televangelist, his wife, and their young adopted daughter. Jordan seems to be on the liberal side of religion so he's not thrilled about the evangelist's visit in the first place. But knowing that the audience will include a number of convicted pedophiles, he's full of anger and disbelief at the stupidity of bringing a young child in to perform for the inmates. Sadly, his concerns are validated when the girl is found murdered in a "locked-room" situation in Jordan's own office. To find out who killed the little girl, Jordan must deal with an antagonistic law enforcement establishment, the usual cons and con artists who populate the prison, the well-connected and well-financed evangelist, and members of the prison staff who may or may not be trustworthy. Besides all this, his father and semi-estranged brother, who are County Sheriff and deputy, have been frozen out of the investigation, and Jordan has personal problems (he's a recovering alcoholic, struggling with an attraction to a married co-worker and unresolved issues with his ex-wife, and his alcoholic mother is dying.) It almost seems too much for one man to deal with, but without being at all preachy, Lister lets us know that Jordan's faith is what makes him able to meet most of his challenges. There are plot twists galore, and surprises virtually up to the last page of this book. Lister pulls no punches when it comes to describing the grimy realities of prison life. This is not a book where all the likeable characters have happy endings. It's as messy as the lives of prisoners. It's also well-written, hard to put down, and a book that will give you things to think about for a long time.

Wow! Realistic novel based on a true story. The viewpoint character, John Jordan, is a Florida prison chaplin who has great humanity--very realistic in that he faces the temptations and trials all of us, including the crimnals he works with, live through. I highly recommend this book.

Brutal killings in prison aren't anything new. But what if the victim is a visiting child? And she was in a locked room off the prison chapel? Such is the premise of Michael Lister's second John Jordan Mystery: Blood of the Lamb. It's a taut, carefully crafted mystery that doesn't skim over the teeming violence and racism in prison, nor the repulsiveness of the crime against an unsuspecting child. What makes the novel transcend the ordinary well-plotted mystery is the character of the story's hero. John Jordan is a flawed minister, a man of God who questions his faith, a man of flesh and blood who wants happiness but finds it painfully elusive. Unlike characters in other openly Christian mysteries, Jordan wears his religious beliefs, not as a mantle that can be taken on and off at will, but as a deeply abiding personal presence. Thus his spiritual conflicts are universal rather than faith-specific, giving his hero an ecumenical appeal--you can empathize with Jordan no matter what your religious beliefs. And if you don't have any religious beliefs, you'll find the character equally appealing because of his deep humanity. Author Lister actually was a prison chaplain, so he captures the claustrophobia and pent-up violence of prison life with excruciating realism.

Written by a real-life prison chaplain of seven years' experience, Blood Of The Lamb is a gripping locked-room murder mystery concerning a Florida prison chaplain who must investigate the murder of the seven-year-old daughter of an ex-con turned televangelist. Unflinchingly brutal in its portrayal of violence, sexual abuse, and murder within the prison setting, Blood of the Lamb comes alive with chilling reality and fully humanized, believeable character portraits all the way up to the end. Highly recommended for mystery fans for its attention to detail and lack of questionable contrivance.

One Line Blurb: Florida prison chaplain John Jordan investigates the murder of a seven-year-old girl, the adopted daughter of a televangelist, killed in Jordan's office while her father was preaching. John Jordan is an unlikely person to be a prison chaplain. His feelings about organized religion would seem to make him not suitable for the chaplaincy of anywhere; his faith, which is not blinding or without question, is highly personal. His skills as an investigator should have him in another line of work altogether. Jordan comes into work at the Potter Correctional Facility one morning to find out that Warden Edward Stone has made arrangements for televangelist Bobby Earl Caldwell, his wife Bunny, and adopted mulatto daughter Nicole to hold a service in Jordan's chapel that evening. Warden Stone has done this without filling out the required paperwork, without running the required background checks, without clearing it with Chaplain Jordan OR the head of security. The warden's nephew, DeAndre Stone, is Caldwell's security person, and he is carrying "a firearm on state prison property - a delony punishable by fines and jail time." Not that the warden is going to do anything about this. Or the fact that Bobby Earl has a prison record. Or the fact that no child should be allowed anywhere in a prison except the designated visiting area. A disaster waiting to happen. Nicole is killed during Bobby Earl's service that evening. While she is locked in Chaplain Jordan's office, someone brutally beats her to death. The only people seen going in or out of that office during the service are her mother and father. They are not treated as suspects by the official investigators. They ARE considered suspects by John Jordan and his informal investigating team. The other suspects are inmates or prison personnel, all of them seen near the office during the service. The chaplain has been specifically ordered NOT to investigate by the people in charge. This does not stop Jordan. One of the inmate suspects is Nicole's biological father. One is a teacher at the prison, who had something to hide as well as an incongruous relationship with his inmate assistant. One is an officer at the prison, the person outside the Chaplain's office during the service monitoring both the inmates and the hallways around that office. One is a convicted child molester. The biggest sub-plot is the almost romance between John and Anna Rodden, a woman working in Classification (whatever that is). Anna happens to be married, but there is definitely chemistry between the two. They haven't acted on their feelings, but the potential is always there and they both know it. This tension causes some uncomfortable moments. John believes he is divorced; his ex-wife Susan had no trouble dealing with him when he was a practicing alcoholic because her father is still drinking and it's a scenario with which she is comfortable. What Susan couldn't handle was John being sob