When I review novels here, I fight with myself over wanting to write something deep with observations on the rich parts of the book vs. saying too much and spoiling it for new readers. Since it’s easier to go light, I usually do, so I doubt you expect to read great, thoughtful posts from me. No, no. It’s my fault. I’ve already given you a positive, light-handed review of J. Mark Bertrand’s Back on Murder (A Roland March Mystery), but some readers have complained that they found little Christianity in the Roland March series. I’ve only read the first one, but here are some observations I made on the Christian themes of Back on Murder. Do I need to warn you against possible spoilers?

Roland March is not a Christian himself, but the fact that he treats them respectfully is not mere common sense. It’s uncommon in the suspense/mystery line. In a lesser book, the youth pastor who begins to look guilty of murder because he’s helping too much would end up being the murderer picking off his youth group for the thrill of it. In this book, Carter Robb has been preaching a hard message of breaking down barriers to the gospel and when one of his most outgoing charges goes missing, he feels guilty for encouraging her. It’s very realistic. When people die or disappear, whether accident or foul play, many of us worry that we should have done something more, and Bertrand doesn’t touch lightly on this theme. He digs it out for us to see, asking us to question whether we believe what Carter has taught and would we accept the risks.

Though March doesn’t understand the faith of the mother of the missing teenager, he admires her strength and does not mock her. Her words are repeated in the narrative so the reader may judge or be confronted with their honest hope. He does spar a bit with his partner from Missing Persons, but it doesn’t get disrespectful for the reader. In fact, it’s mostly like a tense misunderstanding during a stressful job.

March is not a believer in this novel nor does he become one after finding a tract on a discarded body, but he loves his wife. His tension with her is partly due to his devotion to her. That’s not the modern American police detective being written into books today. It’s a point of beauty from a Christian novelist.

No doubt there’s more to say, but now I’m back to wrestling myself again. Maybe I didn’t fall in love with story observations in college. I tend to want a story to stand on it’s own and allow a reader to draw out the theme by his own experience. Of course, I also tend to worry that I just don’t think or blog clearly.