Bancroft Press (Hardcover), ISBN 1-890862-18-5
The disappearance of a woman from his suburban neighborhood doesn't concern freelance writer and stay-at-home dad Aaron Tucker very much. At least not until the victim's husband, Gary Beckwirth, insists that Tucker find her -- despite Tucker's protests that all he ever did was a little bit of investigative journalism and that he most certainly doesn't do detective work. A little pressure from the local chief of police and an assignment from the editor of the local paper tip the scales in Gary's favor, however, and Tucker finds himself on the case.

But does Gary really want Tucker to find out what happened? Gary denies access to phone records and interviews with the couple's son. Tucker begins getting threatening phone calls as he digs deeper into the disappearance. Then out of the blue, Marilyn herself calls Tucker, telling him not to worry and to drop the case. Frustrated, he traces her call and hits the road to confront her…only to discover her body when he arrives.

Now the case becomes a homicide, and more and more it looks like Marilyn's political involvement rests at the bottom of things. Then political connections turn into personal connections -- Marilyn and Gary divorced a number of years ago. So what concerns Gary so much about her death, and what secret keeps them still living together as husband and wife?

Full of twists from almost the first page, For Whom the Minivan Rolls makes for a good read. It also combines the stress of being a fish-out-of-water detective with a caring dad with a very real feel to him. One of Aaron Tucker's children has Asperger's Syndrome, a high-functioning version of autism. The occasional frustration of dealing with this child adds a depth of character to Tucker, making him much more than a mere detective.

Jen Foote

Jen Foote recently moved to central Florida, where she is a copy editor and page designer at a small daily newspaper. She is ecstatic to live an hour away from the ocean.

Click here to read Ceridwen Lewin's review of For Whom the Minivan Rolls.

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