Past Imperfect: A John McIntire Mystery

by Kathleen Hills

Book Overview

A grizzled Lake Superior fisherman with a massive allergy to bees dies very early one morning alone on his boat. Was he stung to death?

John McIntire, retired from a career in military intelligence and striving to regain a place in his boyhood home after 30 years away, is serving as township constable. He questions the easy verdict. The town of St. Adele has little experience with violent death--or murder. Nor does McIntire,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1590580079
• ISBN13: 9781590580073
• Release Date: June 2002
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Length: 275 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

very well written regional mystery

He left St. Adele, Michigan as a boy and returned to it as a man, having served in two world wars in military intelligence. Now John McIntire and his British wife are trying to become a part of the community. He becomes the town's constable and she is the publisher of the local newspaper.John looks forward to some serenity, but almost immediately he investigates a homicide that he quickly solves. A year later, fisherman Nels Bertelsen is found dead aboard his boat, the victim of a bee bite. At first it appears to be a tragic accident, but John uncovers evidence that leads him to conclude that someone placed the bee in the victim's clothing while the medicine that would have saved Nels was replaced by something useless. The only problem is nobody had a motive to murder the man.PAST IMPERFECT is a very well written regional mystery starring an enigmatic hero who is readjusting to life in the USA. The supporting cast is colorful and eccentric while the plot is fast-paced and exciting. Katherine Hills makes the 1950's in the peninsula of Northern Michigan seem real in the mind's eye of the reader, who along with reviewer, looks forward to more works starring the True Grit like character of John McIntire.Harriet Klausner