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Murder for a Worthy Cause
In the suburban Boston community of Hardington, all anyone can talk about is that the cast and crew of the hit TV show, Ultimate House Makeover, have come to town to help 500 volunteers build a home for a family in need.
But on the morning construction is to begin, the body of selectman Fred Terhune is found at the site. Detective John Flynn doesn’t lack for suspects or clues: cameras recorded the previous evening’s party where two men threatened Terhune and a woman showed her displeasure with him in spectacular fashion. And, as a selectman, Terhune had enemies.
Meanwhile, Liz Phillips thinks her only role is to keep volunteers on the project busy. But the more she sees and hears as she works on the project, the more she understands that she may hold the key to solving the murder.
A Murder in the Garden Club introduced garden club president Liz Phillips and the town’s new detective, John Flynn. Set two months after the events of that book, Murder for a Worthy Cause continues to explore the community in which it is set and the relationship between these two compelling people.
But on the morning construction is to begin, the body of selectman Fred Terhune is found at the site. Detective John Flynn doesn’t lack for suspects or clues: cameras recorded the previous evening’s party where two men threatened Terhune and a woman showed her displeasure with him in spectacular fashion. And, as a selectman, Terhune had enemies.
Meanwhile, Liz Phillips thinks her only role is to keep volunteers on the project busy. But the more she sees and hears as she works on the project, the more she understands that she may hold the key to solving the murder.
A Murder in the Garden Club introduced garden club president Liz Phillips and the town’s new detective, John Flynn. Set two months after the events of that book, Murder for a Worthy Cause continues to explore the community in which it is set and the relationship between these two compelling people.
248 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2012
5 people are currently reading
13 people want to read
About the author
Neal Sanders
22 books26 followersBack in 2005, I helped sell the company that had been my long-time employer. When the sale was done, I had two ‘sensible’ offers that would have kept me in the corporate world. To make a long story short, neither option appealed.
There was something else I wanted to do, something that had been on my mind for a couple of decades: I wanted to see if I could write fiction.
Not the Great American Novel. Not poetry. Not some thinly disguised autobiographical cathartic work. I wanted to see if I could tell a rousing good story using believable characters people would root for. I wanted to write stories with satisfying conclusions that sprinkled enough clues about the outcome throughout the story to make a reader say, ‘why didn’t I see that coming?’ Oh, and I wanted to write stuff that people would actually go out and buy. In short, I wanted to write mysteries, suspense, and thrillers.
Since then, I’ve published 15 books. Apart from being mysteries, what they all have in common is that their central characters are strong, independent women. Some of these women solve crimes. Some commit them. But they're all memorable.
Five of my books are stand-alone titles. The others are part of two series featuring recurring characters. But if your next question is 'where do I start?', the answer is, 'anywhere'. My pet peeve about most authors is their lack of charity toward new readers; unless you've read everything else in the series, you're at sea three pages into the book. My stories are deliberately designed to stand on their own.
My books are also, well, humorous. For example, if four 'women of a certain age' are going to take a giant step outside of their comfort zone and rob the daily gate of a large New England fair (as happens in 'The Garden Club Gang'), you can count on a rash of unexpected complications.
I invite you to hop over to my website and sample the wares. You'll find the first few thousand words of each book and a handy guide to which books belong to which series.
There was something else I wanted to do, something that had been on my mind for a couple of decades: I wanted to see if I could write fiction.
Not the Great American Novel. Not poetry. Not some thinly disguised autobiographical cathartic work. I wanted to see if I could tell a rousing good story using believable characters people would root for. I wanted to write stories with satisfying conclusions that sprinkled enough clues about the outcome throughout the story to make a reader say, ‘why didn’t I see that coming?’ Oh, and I wanted to write stuff that people would actually go out and buy. In short, I wanted to write mysteries, suspense, and thrillers.
Since then, I’ve published 15 books. Apart from being mysteries, what they all have in common is that their central characters are strong, independent women. Some of these women solve crimes. Some commit them. But they're all memorable.
Five of my books are stand-alone titles. The others are part of two series featuring recurring characters. But if your next question is 'where do I start?', the answer is, 'anywhere'. My pet peeve about most authors is their lack of charity toward new readers; unless you've read everything else in the series, you're at sea three pages into the book. My stories are deliberately designed to stand on their own.
My books are also, well, humorous. For example, if four 'women of a certain age' are going to take a giant step outside of their comfort zone and rob the daily gate of a large New England fair (as happens in 'The Garden Club Gang'), you can count on a rash of unexpected complications.
I invite you to hop over to my website and sample the wares. You'll find the first few thousand words of each book and a handy guide to which books belong to which series.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 21, 2013
Neal Sanders' Murder for a Worthy Cause is the sequel to A Murder in the Garden Club, and his characters are welcomed back by readers who have recognized this author's talent in telling the tale of a small town murder. Detective John Flynn, his recently-humbled and amiable Chief Harding, and Flynn's new friend and resident of Hardington, Liz, are again faced with an unexpected murder, the second in two months in this small town that prides itself with its tranquil reputation and setting.
That suburban setting is presently drastically altered by the arrival of a film crew determined to fulfill the promise of building a beautiful new home for a family displaced by a fire. "The Ultimate House Makeover" host and crew arrives with trailers and trucks and tents and supplies, and hundreds of locals have volunteered to help in this worthy cause ... and optimistically to be filmed while doing so. Drawn to the charisma of the televised program's handsome host, Whit, even the members of the Garden Club are enlisted to plant the landscape once the pre-ordered plants arrive. But to the chagrin of the Garden Club President, Liz, they have been ordered by Californians from a landscaper in Texas and are not fit for the Zone 5 climate of Massachusetts.
In this way, the author, Neal Sanders, displays his careful research and consultation with the experts who advise him toward writing knowledgeably the back stories of his novels. Coordinating investigation resources of local manpower, State Police, and his friends in the Boston Police Department and other Suffolk County offices, Sanders' Detective Flynn does manage to solve this mysterious murder within the allotted time of five days ... the same days in which the former home of the Cordoza family will be replaced.
Unfortunately for the one-week intensely-scheduled and volunteer-labor-dependent crew, it is the coordinator of the local volunteers who has been murdered, and the build must go on. Liz, having seen the planting disaster ahead and coming to the site to argue with the staffer responsible, is the first person with organizational and leadership skills to arrive on the scene. She is hastily recruited to replace the deceased selectman, and she takes on his role of fitting volunteers and their recorded skills to the many jobs waiting to be done. Liz new 'job' involves meeting the daily requests of the site managers by reading through the pages of names and matching the volunteers' skills to the chores, sending teenage "runners" out with the lists to the groups of workers and their managers.
One of these 'runners' reminds Liz of her own daughter as a teenager, and the two build a hasty relationship and mutual admiration. This established rapport enables the teen to eventually entrust Liz with a secret, and that secret leads to the discovery of another secret, and that to a possible clue to the murder's solution.
Other characters from A Murder in the Garden Club reappear in this story: the Patriot's football star and his wife, who emerges as more than just a pretty face, and the lawyer-turned-friend who can advise Liz on staying within the bounds of Massachusetts Laws. The young police officer, Frankel, again measures up to Detective Flynn's trust and out-does the State Police in crime scene observation, while Liz's old friend Roland reappears to comfort Liz as she confesses her unhappiness in living alone with her daughter married and living more independently while Liz's husband continues to live apart during the work week, coming home only for brief weekends.
All of these characters continue to grow in their relationships and their common dedication to the town of Hardington. Neal Sanders has a viable cast of characters and a realistic setting in which to pose mysteries worth solving, and gentle lessons of humanity worth sharing.
This is the second book for which Neal Sanders has chosen the artwork of a local Georgetown, Massachusetts Artist, Lynne Schulte, for the cover of his book. Her artwork can be scene at her website, www.lynneschulte.com, and her beautiful detail and style add a local flavor and comfortable dimension to Sanders' stories.
Five Stars again for this second mystery set in the fictional town of Hardington, Massachusetts!
That suburban setting is presently drastically altered by the arrival of a film crew determined to fulfill the promise of building a beautiful new home for a family displaced by a fire. "The Ultimate House Makeover" host and crew arrives with trailers and trucks and tents and supplies, and hundreds of locals have volunteered to help in this worthy cause ... and optimistically to be filmed while doing so. Drawn to the charisma of the televised program's handsome host, Whit, even the members of the Garden Club are enlisted to plant the landscape once the pre-ordered plants arrive. But to the chagrin of the Garden Club President, Liz, they have been ordered by Californians from a landscaper in Texas and are not fit for the Zone 5 climate of Massachusetts.
In this way, the author, Neal Sanders, displays his careful research and consultation with the experts who advise him toward writing knowledgeably the back stories of his novels. Coordinating investigation resources of local manpower, State Police, and his friends in the Boston Police Department and other Suffolk County offices, Sanders' Detective Flynn does manage to solve this mysterious murder within the allotted time of five days ... the same days in which the former home of the Cordoza family will be replaced.
Unfortunately for the one-week intensely-scheduled and volunteer-labor-dependent crew, it is the coordinator of the local volunteers who has been murdered, and the build must go on. Liz, having seen the planting disaster ahead and coming to the site to argue with the staffer responsible, is the first person with organizational and leadership skills to arrive on the scene. She is hastily recruited to replace the deceased selectman, and she takes on his role of fitting volunteers and their recorded skills to the many jobs waiting to be done. Liz new 'job' involves meeting the daily requests of the site managers by reading through the pages of names and matching the volunteers' skills to the chores, sending teenage "runners" out with the lists to the groups of workers and their managers.
One of these 'runners' reminds Liz of her own daughter as a teenager, and the two build a hasty relationship and mutual admiration. This established rapport enables the teen to eventually entrust Liz with a secret, and that secret leads to the discovery of another secret, and that to a possible clue to the murder's solution.
Other characters from A Murder in the Garden Club reappear in this story: the Patriot's football star and his wife, who emerges as more than just a pretty face, and the lawyer-turned-friend who can advise Liz on staying within the bounds of Massachusetts Laws. The young police officer, Frankel, again measures up to Detective Flynn's trust and out-does the State Police in crime scene observation, while Liz's old friend Roland reappears to comfort Liz as she confesses her unhappiness in living alone with her daughter married and living more independently while Liz's husband continues to live apart during the work week, coming home only for brief weekends.
All of these characters continue to grow in their relationships and their common dedication to the town of Hardington. Neal Sanders has a viable cast of characters and a realistic setting in which to pose mysteries worth solving, and gentle lessons of humanity worth sharing.
This is the second book for which Neal Sanders has chosen the artwork of a local Georgetown, Massachusetts Artist, Lynne Schulte, for the cover of his book. Her artwork can be scene at her website, www.lynneschulte.com, and her beautiful detail and style add a local flavor and comfortable dimension to Sanders' stories.
Five Stars again for this second mystery set in the fictional town of Hardington, Massachusetts!
October 1, 2012
Murder for a Worthy Cause is the second book in Neal Sander's series with Liz Phillips and Detective John Flynn. You can read this without reading the first one (not that I would recommend that since I loved the first one as well). I read this book cover to cover in two days, I would have finished it in one if I had not been dragged away. The plot is believable as well as enthralling. I highly recommend it.
September 22, 2012
Another great mystery. Love the characters. Could not put this book down.
January 15, 2014
One of Neal's better murders, and I like seeing Liz again. Still, it wasn't really hard to figure out who the killer was (or at least strongly suspect it) about 1/2 through the book.
September 29, 2014
I enjoyed it but I wasn't as captivated as I have been. Can't exactly say why.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews