Shadow Men by Jonathon King

Mark Mayes is a young man eyeing the seminary. The death of a parent opens a box of old family documents including a series of letters from his great grandfather who, with his two sons, were part of a desperate lot working on the construction of the first road to cross the Everglades back in the early years of the 20th century. The conditions were deplorable with the downright evil Jefferson, a crack shot with a large bore rifle, keeping the crew from leaving the crew at night. The three never made it out and Mark has been trying all the proper channels to find out what happened to this side of the family.

Hitting closed doors, Mark goes to Bill Manchester, King's stuttering attorney to see if he can make any headway. Billy gets his now investigator, Max Freeman, to start digging. But at every turn, Max hits a wall as though someone was on his six everywhere he goes. Countless times, a bug in his phone, a tracker in his truck, keeps some faceless sleuths on his tail.

Rumor has it that Jefferson's grandson became a preacher so Billy and Max start searching various sources for a preacher named Jefferson and finally score. So Max goes to interview him in a town that has a 15yr history of a serial killer doing his best imitation of Dexter, killing bad guys and taking out the trash. Reverend Jefferson is, indeed, who they are looking for and, in an attempt to relieve some of his family's guilt, turns over a box of items including that large caliber rifle. Included in the box is an accounting of Jefferson's deeds on behalf of his employers, the first big time Florida development company, Palmco. Including a map that Max thinks are graves.

To find the graves, Max enlists Nate Brown - the 80ish WWII hero and defacto mayor of the 'glades who knows more about the Everglades than anyone. With the map, Max and Nate find the graves of Mark family. But sparks are thought to be possible when Mark travels to see Reverend Jefferson, but Mark finds that Reverend Jefferson has hanged himself in his barn. The last bit of guilt for having tried to account for his grandfather's sins by, as I said, taking out the trash.

I'm getting to like Max Freeman and his girlfriend Det. Richards, and Bill Richardson. But the guy I really like is Nate Brown. A really crusty old frog who wears the 'glades proudly on his sleeve and makes no bones about his disgust with 'progress' and desire to live in a place where right and wrong is more important than nonsense laws. Here's hoping that we see more of Nate Brown in future books. King is quite adept at shifting between Max's history back in Philly, the nightmares that plague Max, his solitude in the Everglades, and the hassles of 'civilized' south Florida. Great stuff from King.

East Coast Don