We all have something to hide. If a list of your deeds were to fall in the wrong hands what would be the outcome? What if you were being blackmailed? To what extent would you go to make sure the information never saw the light of day?
In this story the blackmailer has been killed but the information is still out there. An auction is being held and the records are somewhere in the office equipment and books being put on the block. Someone is trying to stop the blackmailing for good.
Our hero is a bookseller of rare texts. He has brought some books once owned by a former client who had been connected in the Justice Department. He options 13 books at the auction. He discovers that a book he purchased by Keats is ruined when he inventories his acquisitions. The middle of the book is being used as a storage place for papers.
“He touched it, nestled in the hollow space, just a plan deck of playing cards. The book had been hollowed for it.”
“Several white sheets were folded together, and he opened the first. “I don’t even know what this is. A list. Fifty or more handwritten lines, each two letters, a date, and a number .”
It turns out these papers are dangerous to have around. These are records of transactions that are best kept secret. What is to be done? Should he go to the police with the papers? The information there could ruin the reputations, careers, and even lives, of those mentioned.
“According To Their Deeds” is sectioned into day, afternoon, evening for each chapter. Charles Beale, our bookseller, upon discovering the papers searches each person named to seek the truth. This puts him in danger. Someone is killing people to keep the papers from surfacing.
Two plot lines run through this story. The first one is the rare book market, the buying and selling of such. The second one is blackmail.
This is an entry in the suspense fiction line that Bethany House is publishing in answer to the need for good wholesome stories. The suspense genre has Paul Robertson who writes a suspenseful tale. He has written a few before this such as “The Heir” and “Road to Nowhere.” He is in control of the format.
Contact Dane at smdp_review@yahoo.com and let him know how he is doing.
