Forgotten Creek (A Winston Radhauser Mystery)

Susan
Clayton-Goldner
Genre: 
Mystery

A young boy is found dead on a bench in Lithia Park in Ashland, Oregon. The mayor wants an arrest made and the culprit brought to justice in the least amount of time possible. Although all the evidence in the case points directly to a homeless man who is found in possession of the murder weapon and with his clothes covered with the victim’s blood, Detective Winston Radhauser’s intuition has him disagreeing with the evidence. Reluctant to destroy the life of an innocent man, the detective sacrifices a great deal to ensure that the real culprit pays for his cruel act. Detective Winston Radhauser’s investigation threatens to unearth a major secret that one of the mayor’s top people has gone to great lengths to keep hidden.

With the backdrop of a forgotten creek that is full of homeless people, the author brings to life characters who would have never seen the light of the day without the work of the multi-talented detective. The politics around homeless people and their shelters come out clearly throughout the book. While the storyline carries a good measure of suspense, the reader may not appreciate several blind leads that seem to crowd a significant percentage of the book. A well-calculated look into the mind of the main suspect might have worked much better. Nonetheless, the themes explored within the book are realistic, the main characters are very vibrant, and the author did an amazing job in world-building. It is definitely a well-done piece of literary work.

JM Lareen