Bell Ringer

Bell Ringer is a gripping mystery featuring a damaged but determined detective and a diverse and quirky cast of characters. If you enjoy plot twists and and dark humor leavened with humanity, the Adam Perdue mysteries are for you.

Adam Perdue finds people no one really wants found, in places nobody else wants to look. When Michele Rathborn vanishes from the streets of Orman, her brothers hire him so they can challenge the will giving her control of the family business. Adam discovers that she's not the only homeless person who has disappeared. For the police, street people going missing is more of a solution than a problem. For Adam, it's a mission.

More disappearances, a murder, and a cache of stolen antiquities complicate Adam's search for the heiress and leave him with more clients than leads. The few clues he can divine from the entrails of Orman's underbelly all lead to one place: New Life Ministries, an invitation-only homeless shelter with a too-good-to-be-true success rate for rehabilitating its clients.

No one at the shelter is who they seem, especially not Jan Shelley, the pastor without a past. Adam's investigation disrupts her plans, which include much more than reclaiming lost souls. When she frames him for murder, Adam must find a way through the riddles and contradictions that underpin New Life Ministries to avoid winding up in a cell - or on a slab.

SJ is long-time resident of North Carolina and Massachusetts and has also lived in a half dozen countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe. A one-time cab driver, international aid worker, political activist, non-profit executive, and housing advocate, SJ's time is currently divided between Wilmington, NC and the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.