The Redemptive Return, Paperback

When his sister is murdered, Father Tom Greer and Detective Helen Parr are plunged into the seedy world of human trafficking to find her killer. Doing so puts them both in mortal danger as they seek to break up an organization intent on exploiting young women.

But that's the least of their problems.

The six months since Father Leonard's suicide have left Father Tom an emotional and spiritual wreck. He's neglected his duties in the parish. He's alienated most of the members of his congregation. His secretary and ex-mother-in-law Anna is increasingly worried about him. His prayer life is non-existent. Increasingly, he's questioning his very calling to the priesthood, even the very existence of God.

The only thing he's not questioning? His growing love for Helen.

After a frantic late-night call from his estranged sister begging for his help, his mother informs him his sister is missing. Tom and Helen travel together to his Florida hometown to search for her. But his sister's already dead, murdered, his boyhood friend the local Sheriff says, as part of a drug deal gone wrong.

But something doesn't ring true about the story. For one thing, Tom's sister was found miles from where she apparently called him. For another, Tom's convinced that his old friend the Sheriff is hiding something.

With these doubts in mind, Father Tom and Helen work to unravel the mysteries surrounding his sister's life and how they led to her murder. With help from Helen's assistant, the precocious genius Gladys Finklestein, they uncover a human trafficking ring and go undercover for answers.

But a brief explosion of grief-fueled passion in an old cabin during a Florida thunderstorm complicates things, as Father Tom and Helen are finally forced to confront the most profound mystery of all.

The mystery of love and friendship.