Mike now has a fulfilling ministry to the homeless men and women of Madison, South Carolina whom the author describes as hobes, a word that's not in my dictionary, and is apparently not quite the same as hobos, meaning wandering vagrants. I can only guess that hobes don't wander!

Dale Osborn Rains was born in Marthaville, Louisiana, where, he says, he was usually considered the kid who would never get into much trouble and who would go to seminary and then pastor southern fundamentalist churches. But instead he majored in theater and became an Episcopalian. Now a retired professor, he spent over forty years teaching, acting, playwriting, and directing theater. It was only after he retired that he had time to write his first book, the murder mystery reviewed below. He is also an Episcopal lay minister and is married.

My Father's Sins (2009)
My Father's Sins describes how, when the police discover the body of a homeless man in a street-side stairwell, Madison Police Department's Chief Detective Jerry Majors surprisingly implicates Father Mike in the old man's murder. To prove his innocence, Mike pledges to find the killer himself, despite the strong objections of his close friend, Police Detective Carlos Ruiz, and his beloved bishop, the Right Reverend Barbara Michener. Then Mike discovers that the killer is targeting him - and not only him but also his ten-year-old son, Tim. He has to work against time to find the killer and save his son.

The author is particularly good at describing the lives and behavior of the hobes (the homeless) who have names like Juice, Smiley, Gin-Gin, and, most enigmatic of all, Sir, who wouldn't tell the helpers his name when he took his supper tray so was just addressed as sir - and then the name stuck.

The author shows real empathy for such characters, as when he greets old Jo who is sitting on the curb outside the rectory and clearly has something important to tell him but won't say what: "Jo dried her eyes on her sleeve and looked back at Father Mike as though a brilliant idea was about to emerge. 'Tell you what.'
'What?' A long pause. Mike understood not to interrrupt or Jo would never answer.
'As the good book says, Never do today what you can put off until tonight. Talk to you later at the diner,' she said.
Mike knew this evasion well. Perhaps Jo would never talk. But this conversation seemed important to her, and he wanted to give her every opportunity. 'Sounds fair enough to me,' Mike stood. 'See you there.' He paused to see if Jo would have second thoughts and resume the conversation. But no second thoughts were forthcoming."

Later on, Mark's wife Annie sees their young son Tim talking to a strange woman on the sideway and rushes out to save him: "Tim looked up, rolled his practiced eyes, and made two syllables out of the word as pre-teens are so capable of doing, 'Mo-om!'
Annie rushed over to Tim and grabbed his hand.
'I just wanted to make sure Jo would be at the diner this evening, Mom.'
Annie looked at the old woman. 'Jo! I didn't know that was you. I'm so terribly sorry.'
The old woman shrugged and rose from the curb, her long, matted, gray hair fluttering down her back. She managed to straighten her otherwise unstraightenable garments and looked at Annie. 'Sorry I distressed you, ma'am.'
'Annie,' the younger woman corrected.
'Annie, ma'am," Jo replied. 'As the good book says, she who overstays her welcome should go off and eat worms. See you at the diner.' Jo sauntered off towards St Christopher's.
'Bye, Jo,' Tim called.
Annie started after her, 'I'm so sorry, Jo. I wouldn't have hurt your feelings for the world.' "

The three characters really come to life, as does the husband-wife relationship between Mike and Annie, including a three-day quarrel about Mike's reluctance to tell Annie about a note left by the murderer, quoting a Biblical text about the sins of the fathers being visited upon the children.

Even the police in the story have their own problems: Chief Detective Jerry Majors had had a father who viciously beat him, a son, Mack, who tried to commit suicide, and a sanctimonious pastor, Brother Sam, who glibly assures him that "Mack may have fallen into the clutches of Satan" and would go straight to hell and that "Reverend Mike is a pagan. Evil, I tell you, evil .... It wouldn't surprise me if he were the devil personified." And when Jerry's wife stands up for him and faces up to Brother Sam, Brother Sam warns Jerry, "And that's what comes of letting a woman take charge. How can you let your wife, a woman, whom the Apostle Paul tells us should remain silent, say those words to a man of God?"
There is no doubt where the author's sympathies don't lie!

And Detective Carlos Ruiz has big problems with his two student daughters when he bursts in and removes them from a party. It helps make a realistic and quite gripping story.

However, the plot is not always entirely convincing, as when one of the dead bodies turns out to be Mike's father who had walked out on his family 28 years before and not been seen since: "He's my father! He's my fucking father!' yells Mike, his priestly ways forgotten. Nor is the murderer's insistence on visiting the sins of the father on the children and children's children, that leads him to kidnap young Tim, preparatory to murdering him, but not, he insists, until he has killed Mike first. This gives the author a chance to prolong the agony which he does with considerable applomb, helping us identify with the captured Tim.
"Are you going to murder me?" Tim asks.
"The monster was taken aback. He apparently had not expected such a blunt question from a ten-year-old boy. 'My, aren't you the odd one.' He looked at Tim and grinned - an eerie sort of grin ....'In time, kid. In time. But murder is such a strong word. Execute. Now execute is a more appropriate word.' " It's very reminiscent of the way in which so many other fictional murderers gloat over their victims.

The kidnapping scene is certainly exciting and it is written in a very down-to-earth way (Tim involuntarly wets himself then seems threatened with sexual assault) but it lacks the feeling of reality of some of the more domestic scenes. However, Tim, like his father, is nothing if not courageous and resourceful and, despite all the odds, plays his part in the melodramatic climax. So all in all, it makes an interesting read.

The author has his own website, complete with video, and a blog that I cannot fail to commend as its classified list of clerical detectives is taken from my site and comes complete with links to each of my pages!



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