The Lord Is My Shepherd: The Psalm 23 Mysteries #1

What an intriguing concept!! A rabbi and a church secretary walk into a.... sounds like a joke but this book is far from that. While there is humor and a bit of light romantic tension, there are daily lot of unimaginable, grisly murders. There is some description but not in vivid detail. Nicknamed the Passion Week Murders, the setting the holiest of time for Jews and Christians, Passover and Easter. I love the insights into another religion as well as insight into how we are seen by others. One part that hit home with me is when the rabbi has to decide whether to continue to chase a killer who is running away or answer the call of an injured victim to provide spiritual care. He realizes he is a rabbi not a policemen. It reminds me of the Tyranny of the Urgent, a booklet that challenges one to take stock of what is most important. Finding out "who done it" is wonderfully complicated and unexpected for the most part. The writing is good but still lacks some of the professional polish that will come for this author. I've read the 1st chapter of the next book in the Psalm 23 series and it looks good!

Mondays are no one's favorite day of the week, but for a church secretary they are awful. Nowhere else but in a church have people been digging through your desk, walking off with all your office supplies and reorganizing your desktop. Every Monday you spend the first hours of the week finding all of your "stuff" and putting your office back together. Cindy walks into church dreading those details plus she knows it is going to be extra busy with Easter week, but before she can ever make it to her office she trips over a dead body. Her screams bring the Rabbi from the Jewish synagogue next door running to her assistance. Unknown to them, this meeting won't be their last and neither will this murder. There are three views of faith in this book. The Rabbi is obviously Jewish. Cindy is Christian and Mark, the investigator, is an unbeliever. Ms. Viguie goes into a great deal of detail explanating the details regarding the Jewish faith and traditions. The Rabbi plays the role of "hero" to Cindy throughout the book. Although it is Easter week in the book, the only details regarding Easter involved the murders. It was also a little disconcerting that the pastor was portrayed in such an inept manner. This book was a great read. Very well written and definitely a great fit for the mystery genre.

For years, the trend in Christian fiction has been to make books as ecumenical as possible. So when a church is mentioned, it's usually given a generic name that could fit almost any denomination. Debbie Viguié makes a bold move in The Lord is My Shepherd. Not only does she make her mystery-solving church secretary a Presbyterian, but then she pairs her up with the Rabbi from the temple next door. Together, Cindy and Jeremiah must unravel the clues leading them to a serial killer. As they are constantly thrown together, they forge a bond of trust and friendship that transcends their religious beliefs. Viguié's book packs a double whammy. First, it's a great mystery. As the clues unfolded and the tension increased, I found it harder and harder to put the book down to deal with real-life issues. Second, it's a wonderful story of two people from two very different backgrounds who discover that, at heart, they're not so different after all. The friendship that grows between Cindy and Jeremiah is very sweet, and what they learn about each other's faiths is illuminating. The Lord is My Shepherd is the first of The Psalm 23 Mysteries, so fans of this book will get to meet Cindy and Jeremiah again when I Shall Not Want comes out in Fall 2010. It will be interesting to see how Viguié handles the friendship between her Presbyterian secretary and the intriguing Rabbi. If it blooms into something more tinged with romance (which many readers will expect it to) there will be some controversial faith issues to deal with. But I'm confident this series will deliver in stellar fashion. Kudos to Viguié and to Abingon Press! NOTE: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for reviewing purposes

There is a new Christian suspense author on the block, and she is really good. This book was another "read-in-one-sitting" books. In other words, such a great read that I couldn't put it down until I finished it. Viguie has two interesting, yet totally different main characters for this series. A church secretary of a Protestant church, and a Jewish Rabbi. Working together, they help the police solve the Passion Week . The killer is ing people and arranging them to portray the events of Jesus' last week on this earth. I thought the plot was genius, and I really like the interaction between her characters. She brings out the differences between the Jewish and Protestant beliefs and practices, something I think she will focus on in the series. There are increasingly too many authors who feel you can't have a good suspense or mystery without either having no strong Christian theme, or including language not suitable to a Christian book. This author proves them wrong. There is a strong Christian theme to the book, yet it is a great suspense/mystery at the same time. If you enjoy the genre of suspense/mystery, check this series out. This is the first book in the Psalm 23 Mystery Series, but will soon be followed by the second, I Shall Not Want.

Cindy Preston led a pretty boring life as a church secretary until the Monday before Easter when she tripped over a body in the church's sanctuary. Considering what was left at the scene, it appeared highly likely that the killer was a member of the church. Cindy soon learned this body wasn't the first murder of the day. A few hours earlier, police had found another victim and it appeared highly probable that these two deaths were linked. Within days, more bodies were discovered and it quickly became apparent there was a serial killer in town--one who had killed before in other towns and in much the same way. Surprisingly, Cindy kept finding herself near the victims. Was she a target or the audience? With numerous questions and a killer who left behind little evidence, authorities were baffled, and the bodies kept turning up. Eventually, feeling divinely led to help, Cindy and the Rabbi from the synagogue adjacent to the church, began to see how the pieces fit together, but could they locate the killer before his final production? In a mystery full of mystery, The Lord Is My Shepherd is both inventive and highly entertaining. I love a good serial killer novel, and this is a nice one. It's a bit different than others in this genre in that it doesn't focus its attention on the method of killing as much as the process and production of the murders. It was a good change and kept the ick factor down while maintaining a good level of suspense. Though it has a high body count, because the gore is low this is a great choice for those who like a good serial killer mystery, but not a lot of blood. The themes and motives of the murderer were excellent. I completely enjoyed this portion of the book and felt it was the highlight. The plot was well planned and worked perfectly with the characters. I struggled a bit with the apparent competent ignorance of the detectives working the case. I'm not sure how they could have missed some of the connections they did, but apparently their official computer database was not as comprehensive or useful as the internet. Additionally, the killer is revealed much earlier than I would have liked, but given the rest of the mystery surrounding this story there was still plenty to enjoy. An aspect of this book which Viguié beautifully incorporated was the Jewish Rabbi, Jeremiah and Passover week. I adore Jewish history and traditions included in novels. They tend to add a wonderful richness to stories and bring the Christian faith back to its roots. While I thoroughly loved what was included, a nice addition would have been if the elements of the Passover meal would have been related to the Christian faith. This would have been a nice way to include Christian themes in a noninvasive manner. I liked the point of view in which most of the spiritual aspects were presented. Using Jeremiah as the primary voice for spiritual insight was quite effective. It highlighted the quest and the mystery of understand