Enter by the Narrow Gate - (Christopher Worthy/Father Fortis Mystery) by David Carlson (Paperback)

About the Book

A Detroit detective and an Orthodox priest team up to solve mysteries in the Santa Fe: a missing teenage girl and the ritualistic murder of a nun. It will require them to delve into the secret lives of Trappist monks and alienated teenagers.

Book Synopsis

A teenage girl has vanished in Santa Fe. Nearby, in the Trappist monastery of St. Mary of the Snows, a beautiful young nun is stabbed to death. Father Nicholas Fortis is on sabbatical at St. Mary's, and when Lieutenant Christopher Worthy of the Detroit Police Department is flown in to help find the missing teenager, the Orthodox monk asks his friend to delve into the nun's murder as well. The two men make a perfect team: the monk's gregarious manner opens hearts and the detective's keen intuition infiltrates psyches.

The Book of Matthew refers to the "narrow gate" that leads to heaven. Each of the key players in these two cases was rattling heaven's gate in a frantic and even dangerous quest for salvation. Lieutenant Sera Lacey of the Santa Fe Police, with her captivating looks and insight into the Native Americans and cultures of the Southwest, proves both a boon and a distraction for Worthy. As Father Fortis navigates the social hierarchy of the monks of St. Mary's, he begins to fear their secret agendas. Bowing to the pressure to solve both cases, the investigators let the clues lead them in opposite directions. At the end of one of those paths, Death awaits.

Book one in a new detective series featuring Christopher Worthy and Father Fortis.

Review Quotes

"Father Nicholas Fortis and Lieutenant Christopher Worthy are both out of their element the instant the two friends get to Santa Fe from the Midwest, and that ratchets up the suspense in this excellent mystery.... Author David Carlson has created a great team in Fortis and Worthy. The priest's kind, open manner and knowledge of scripture and theology complement Worthy's hard-nosed pursuit of killers."

--Rich Zahradnik, author of the Coleridge Taylor Mysteries