The Body and the Blood: A John Jordan Mystery

In Lister's superior fourth book featuring cop-turned-prison chaplain John Jordan (after 2006's story collection Flesh and Blood), recovering alcoholic Jordan, who's begun to reconcile with his estranged wife, Susan, meets Susan's father, Tom Daniels, who's inspector general of the Florida Department of Corrections and a fellow recovering alcoholic, at Potter Correctional Institute, where a prisoner charged with raping Daniels's wife is incarcerated. When inmate Justin Menge, a key witness against the accused rapist, is stabbed to death, both Jordan and Daniels can attest that no one entered or left Menge's locked cell, making howdunit crucial to determining whodunit. Moreover, Menge's death came shortly after his sister, Paula, visited him and learned that he was claiming to have been the victim of a frame. Suspects range from inmates and prison staff to Paula, who was her brother's heir. A plausible resolution concludes this first-rate locked-room mystery. (Sept.)