Vacation Man

by Frank Scully

The prairie and sand hill country of north central Nebraska is a land of stark beauty and few people. Jack and Carrie Decker and their two children find themselves stuck by circumstances and a lack of money in this land far away from anywhere they were going or had been.
Jack had once been a senior corporate executive and a business owner before bad decisions and bad breaks left him with nearly nothing. After their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, he and his family are stranded in unfamiliar surroundings. The family is welcomed into the small community, where Jack and Carrie find jobs, friends, and some peace of mind after years of stress and worry. However, the bucolic peace doesn’t last. Bullets start flying, and a bomb almost kills them as they find themselves at the center of a battle involving books at the school library and on a collision course with a vicious gang of robbers. Jack and Carrie, with the help of a mysterious old man and his cat, summon courage and conviction they didn’t know they had, and dig until they find the clues that lead them to the man at the center of it all.

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 13, 2012

About the author

Frank Scully was born at the end of World War II and grew up in a small town in North Dakota. He remembers a time when radio provided the entertainment and then along came TV with very few channels. While in college getting a Bachelor’s degree in History and a Juris Doctor in Law, TV graduated to color, the Beetles landed on the Ed Sullivan Show, Kennedy was assassinated, and Armstrong walked on the moon. He served in the U.S. Army as a Judge Advocate General Corps officer in the U.S., Vietnam and Thailand before getting his Masters in Business Administration from the Thunderbird School and embarking on a business career. Currently he is a Contracts Manager for a major aerospace and defense manufacturer.

Frank was always a voracious reader with a preference for mysteries and suspense novels. After many years of saying he would get around to writing a book someday, his wife decided that it was time for him to put up or shut up. Since that day, he has diligently worked at his writing until finally the first book, Resurrection Garden, has been published and others are under contract and due out shortly.

Reviews

[Lin Holmes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Scully knows how to write mysteries...and VACATION MAN is one of his best!

I must admit this is not my FIRST exposure to the writing brilliance of Frank Scully's mysteries...and I also must admit each one is a delight filled journey leading to the culmination of the mystery.

HOWEVER...in this tale we know almost from the beginning "who-dunnit"...much in the way we always knew in the Columbo TV series. Like Columbo, this book is about how to bring the "who-dunnit" to justice.

VACATION MAN refers to the career focus of Jack Decker, our down-on-his-luck hero who gets hired by the local folk to fill in for vacationing staff...hence the title.

I bow to the mastery of Frank Scully.

VACATION MAN is a winner and I happily award it FOUR STARS.