Funny Money

Pigeon Fork, Ky., is very quiet for former Louisville cop and PI Harlan Blevins, until local clergyman Brother Isaac Tallman approaches him with a problem. After launching into a diatribe on saving sinners, the tightly wound preacher tells Blevins that he's troubled by deposits being made into the church account by some unknown person. Blevins, eager for a little action, follows the trail through the local banking world, in which branches are frequently inside supermarkets and tellers are often suspicious of strangers. The more he searches outside the church, the fewer clues he finds, so he turns his attention to the church members, including Sister Kay Fay Tallman, Brother Isaac's wife, who visits prisons, adopts stray animals and is considered within the congregation to be a saint. The investigation takes a tense turn when she disappears and her car is found. McCafferty (Pet Peeves) nicely infuses colorful locals into this twisting tale of crime-riddled small-town America. (Mar.)