DEROS

Father Jake Austin Mystery #1

by John A. Vanek

When Father Jake Austin is assigned to his hometown of Oberlin, Ohio, in July of 2002, he has been away for a long time. A physician and a war veteran before entering a Catholic seminary, he is now a member of the Camillian Order. He takes comfort in his vows of obedience, poverty, chastity, and service to the sick. Jake arrives just in time to attend his high school reunion, where an encounter with his high school sweetheart forces him to question his commitment to the priesthood. Before the night is over, one of his classmates will be dead, a second gravely wounded, and a third hospitalized. The carnage at the reunion comes on the heels of what appears to be an unrelated murder at the quarry. Overseeing the investigation is Jake’s former football teammate, Chief of Police Tremont “Tree” Macon, who is unwilling to rule out anyone as a suspect, not even Jake. As he struggles to prove his innocence and to find his footing in a town that remembers him as a hellion, Jake searches for threads that will connect these brutal attacks. The war may be long past, but in some ways Jake is still waiting for his DEROS: Date of Expected Return from Overseas. Can he put aside his own demons long enough to find the living, breathing devil who stalks his classmates? Book 1 in the Father Jake Austin Mystery series.

Genres: Mystery

280 pages, ebook

Published January 15, 2018

About the author

About the Author:

Born and raised in the Cleveland, Ohio area, John Vanek received his bachelor’s degree from Case Western Reserve University, where his passion for creative writing took root. He received his medical degree from the University of Rochester, did his internship at University Hospitals of Cleveland, and completed his residency at the Cleveland Clinic.

While practicing medicine for a quarter century, his interest in writing never waned. Medicine was his wife, writing his mistress, and mysteries & poetry his drugs of choice. He began honing his craft by attending creative writing workshops and college
courses. At first pursuing his passion solely for himself and his family, he was surprised and gratified when his work won contests and was published in a variety of literary journals, anthologies, and magazines.

John now lives happily as an ink-stained-wretch in Florida where he teaches a poetry workshop for seniors at a local college. He enjoys swimming, hiking, sunshine, good friends, and red wine.

Reviews

[Danielle The Book Huntress · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my usual cup of tea, to be honest. This is as much a literary meditation on life, death and loss as it is a mystery novel. The hero is very conflicted and deeply nuanced. There's a lot to explore in this novel.

Reviewed for Affaire de Coeur Magazine. http://affairedecoeur.com.

[Joan Kipp]

Excellent. Looking forward to the next in the series

[Laurie Lantz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a religious person I had my doubts about a main character Father Jake mystery. But after the author visit to my local library I decided to give it a shot. Glad I did and am looking forward to the next book in the series. The author assured me his character was not up on a pedestal and he certainly isn’t . He’s a flawed every man. Plus I’m an Ohio girl and the book takes place in Oberlin Ohio.

[Colleen Shogan]

Lovely read

Terrific start to a new series. I thoroughly enjoyed the main character, a priest. Part thriller, mystery, and romance, the plot had several twists and turns. A pleasant surprise.

[Eugenia Vanek · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you loved Father Brown and Grandchester mysteries, you'll love this one set in the US with contemporary topics.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a new addiction, the Father Jake Austin mystery series. If the other books in the series are as gripping as this one, I will be missing a lot of sleep and work because I could not stop reading this novel. In a small Ohio town not so far from Cleveland, a woman has just been murdered. Police chief Tree Macon is baffled. Meanwhile Jake, both a priest and a doctor, has just arrived in his hometown to start working at Sacred Heart Church and St. Joseph’s hospital. A Vietnam veteran, he partied hard and got in a lot of trouble when he was young, but now he would like to show everyone he has changed. They don’t believe it. His first night in town, he attends his 30-year high school reunion, where he faces the girlfriend he cheated on and lost way back when, a woman is poisoned to death, and the guest speaker says some crazy stuff then passes out. Soon two more people are dead. And Jake is one of the suspects. Soon he is deeply embroiled in finding the real killer and gets himself in a whole lot of trouble. No worries. He’ll be okay. Our hero is flawed, but we can’t help loving him and the other people he meets in town. Good stuff.

[Mary Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great start to a new series with lots of clever plot twists! I look forward to reading more from this author.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jake Austin has been a high school bad boy, a soldier in Vietnam, a doctor, and a priest. But not until his order sends him back to his hometown of Oberlin, OH, does he become a murder suspect. The day he arrives at the rectory is the same day as his high school reunion, after which one of his high school rivals is shot and an obnoxious woman is poisoned. The local police chief, his high school buddy, doesn't really believe that Jake is a murderer, but it's a long time since they played football together, and who knows what changes time has brought? Then there's the mysterious red-haired woman who seems to know more about Jake's past than he knows himself...

Note: I read the paperback of this, but couldn't find that edition listed.

[Geni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good story written by a talented author. The mystery is clever and I loved the prose and the characters! The editing is also great – the characters and plot are tied together and there are no wasted words nor meandering story side-trips.

Vaguely reminds me of James Runcie's Grantchester series, but the writing and plot here are actually better.

I understand that two more books are in the works. I can't wait!

[Lynn Lerch · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I have read this year! I can't wait for the next Father Jake Austin mystsry. I love the setting. Perhaps it is because my grandfather grew up in Canton Ohio and went to Oberlin University before he became a Methodist missionary in China. The characters are so real. Jake is a Vietnam vet and his description of being there is so accurate. I just loved this book.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Father Jake Austin is a complicated man--a problem teenage, Vietnam vet with PTSD guilt, physican and now priest--but believable and interesting. He returns to his hometown of Oberlin to practice both his careers, renews old acquaintances and ends up as a possible suspect in a series of murders. Very readable, told with humor and respect.

[Lorene Girand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oddly, I was not expecting to like this book as I attended one of the author's readings. He read in a very monotone manner and there was no life to his words. However, when reading this first of three for myself I was 100% engaged and couldn't put it down. I'm looking forward to reading the second and third books.

[InD'tale Magazine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel is aptly named and fascinates the reader page after page.

Read full review in the 2018 March issue of InD'tale Magazine.

[Vontel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting premises & plot lines for a new action packed mystery series. I look forward to reading the 2nd book, "Miracles", due to be published January 15, 2019.

[David Edmonds · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am impressed with this debut novel. Vanek has hit all the notes and checked all the boxes. Give this a read: you will not be disappointed!

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

"People say there are no atheists in foxholes. That's bull. We saw no righteousness in what we were doing, no moral high ground we could claim. To us, God appeared to be AWOL. My best friend used to say, 'Jesus took one look at a napalm-fried village and hightailed it back up to heaven.'"

[...] "Either you believe God has some greater plan and all the suffering and hardship have some meaning, or you plummet into the abyss. A lot of guys plunged in headfirst. When I finally accepted that I was part of the evil, I hit rock bottom." I turned my face from her. "God wasn't AWOL. He hadn't forsaken me. He was a conscientious objector. I reached into the blackness within me, and God took my hand."



~~A Camillian order doctor-priest--indicated by the simple red cross on his protective garb--ministers to the sick during the height of the Covid 19 pandemic. Those who join this order take vows common to many other priests--celibacy, poverty, piety. However, in addition they also vow to care for the sick and infirm, often risking infection themselves. Our protagonist, Father Jake Austin, is both a physician and a member of this order.

First two sentences: The chief of police, Tremont "Tree" Macon, parked his cruiser next to the coroner's meat wagon. As he unfolded his six-foot-six inch frame like a jackknife from the driver's seat, a television van roared up, spewing gravel and filling the air with dust.

Father Jake is fairly new to the priesthood. He is asked to fill in for an ill priest in Oberlin, Ohio...which is ironically the town he grew up in. As he is a physician-priest, he'll also be serving as an internal medicine doctor at the local hospital. He flies into town at the end of a very long day for his old friend Tremont Macon. The chief of police has been busy investigating a murder at the local quarry. Murders are rare in Oberlin. But in the first few weeks of Jake's ministry, the murders start stacking up. Tremont is pushed to solve the murders by an increasingly worried community. Who could be behind the deaths that seem to cluster around Jake's graduating class?

My two cents: In a way, it makes me sad to give Deros a lower rating. The book was published by a smaller, independent publishing house...and gosh knows we need more independent media of all sorts in our glossy corporate world. The author is also from Ohio originally (my home state). Vanek gives us an interesting premise, and an intriguing protagonist to root for. Unfortunately, there isn't much mystery--I guessed the bad guy correctly very early one. Instead of typical twists, turns, and red herrings, the police cast a large share of their suspicions at Jake. This is an odd choice by the author, and doesn't add any layers to the mystery since the novel is written in the first person POV of Jake. The prose and dialogue are average. Another small gripe is that the author left a fair share of loose strings dangling at the end of the novel. I understand that this is a set-up for future books in the series, but is still frustrating. Overall given 2 stars or a rating of "average." Only recommended as a library checkout.

Further Reading: An overview of the Camillian order (a subset of the Catholic priesthood that Father Jake Austin joined)--both their history and present day status. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camillians

~~And a description of the devastation caused by Huntington's disease, from the Huntington Disease Society of America website. https://hdsa.org/what-is-hd/overview-...

Other favorite quotes: (Spot on description of flying over Ohio.) I raised the window shade. The Cuyahoga River slinked along below us like thick brown sludge. Cornfields coasted by, sliced into a giant yellow-green checkerboard by a crosshatch of roads. I could almost hear the wind whistling through the stalks.

~~"Oran hasn't written much since his wife died. He and Nancy were--what did Kurt Vonnegut call it?--a duprass. A community of two people, a couple whose lives revolved around each other." Her earring found the sunlight and twinkled. "When he lost her, Oran floated into space like a moon without a planet. He completely shut down."

~~The elevator inched upward as slowly as Church doctrine changed.

~~So many gods, so many creeds,
So many paths that wind and wind,
While just the art of being kind
is all the sad world needs.

"One of your poems, Em?"
"No. Ella Wheeler Wilcox wrote it around 1900, but it's still true today."

~~Who knows anything at all about solitude if he has not been in love? Love and solitude must test each other in the man who means to live alone.

[Denise Zendel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jake Austin – youthful hellraiser, Vietnam soldier and medic turned doctor then priest, is called back to his hometown of Oberlin, Ohio, to fill in for an ailing parish priest and help out at the local hospital. He ends up going to his high school reunion, where he meets up with his former flame and ends up getting involved in some murders of his classmates. His high school bff, Chief of Police Tremont “Tree” Macon, considers Austin a person of interest (heck, he considers everyone a person of interest), but he also knows Austin can get him information he can’t get elsewhere.

This was a surprisingly good read. I grew quickly attached to Austin. He’s conflicted – his war experiences hardened him and traumatized him. Becoming a doctor wasn’t enough, so he fell into the priesthood, in an order that allows him to serve his patients and God at the same time, and gives him peace. He’s flawed, but he struggles to be better. He’s not sure where he fits in – he was a hellion as a youth, and then there was his time in Vietnam – and he’s still metaphorically waiting for his DEROS – Date of Expected Return from Overseas.

I liked the writing, the plotting, the pacing, the character development, and watching Austin struggle but still keep putting one foot in front of the other. I’m not a fan of proselytizing dressed up in mystery clothing, but fortunately the author didn’t bludgeon people over the head with the religious angle. He made Austin’s spirituality part of his character, which made his struggles more compelling. Watching him slip between the secular world and the spiritual one made me like him even more. I appreciated the relationship between Austin and Macon. They give each other crap, but are there for each other when it counts.

And the relationship between Austin and his high school sweetie is bittersweet and believable. Part of me was rooting for them to get back together (no spoilers here, but it doesn’t happen). Watching them figure out a way to resume a friendship with all the stumbling blocks (they work at the same hospital, and he’s conscious of behaving properly given his priesthood) gave an added sense of realism to the story.

I liked this so much I immediately bought the second in the series. I hope Jake Austin sticks around for a while.

[Ellen H · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know, it wasn't the worst book I ever read, and it certainly wasn't the best. I stumbled on a description of it somewhere and got hold of it because it's set in the small town where I went to college, and when I say small town, I mean SMALL TOWN; of the 8000 or so residents, more than a third are students at the college. So I was expecting the college itself to have a much bigger presence in the book, and was startled at how little it had. Now, it may well be true that if you live in such a town, you do your best to ignore the college? Maybe? But even when reference was made to the college, it seemed ... unnatural. At one point a character says to another, "would you like to go to a concert with me? It's at Oberlin College." Now, I currently live in a much larger version of a college town, but I'd never say, "the concert is at Princeton University". I'd say "the University" or "on campus", even though I myself am not connected to said University. But it's the only game in town, and certainly the largest employer in town, just like in Oberlin -- and believe me, the college is a MUCH bigger percentage of the town than Princeton is. It was odd. He also referenced various college buildings very occasionally -- but in one case, he misnamed one ("Talbot" Hall for "Talcott"). And when an initially unidentified young woman in her 20s is found dead, no one even for a second suggests that she might be a student at the college (and of course she isn't). It seems to be the elephant in the living room that no one mentions.

Certainly it's incidental to the story told, but if the author is trying to paint a picture of what it is like to live in this particular small town, I can't imagine it's possible to do so without a lot more reference to the college. Why set the mystery there?

[Jeannie and Louis Rigod · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book revolves around a Catholic Priest/Medical Physician who is sent to deal with his personal demons in his old hometown.

The good Father Austin has had a turbulent life growing up and the memories stirred by returning to Oberlin, Ohio are overwhelming. Haunted by memories of lost loves, lost family, and Vietnam, Fr. Austin tries to make a difference in his community.

There has been a murder. Oberlin is shocked. Police Chief Tree is one of Fr. Austin's best friends. As they share confidences, Fr. Austin begins to sense a 'pattern' in the killings...what if...

This book has a good story but, for me, was a bit overwhelming with all the pent up anger, broken dreams and just read rather heavily. I personally was a Vietnam veteran. I only served stateside but too many disturbing memories were brought to the foreground as I read this novel. The murders almost seemed subplots instead of the focus of the novel. Since I read it as a Murder Mystery, I was a bit unsettled.

The book is well written and the dialog grounded. The characters are drawn believable and stay in character throughout the book. I would like the next novel to be written with more sunlight in the story plot.

[John Yingling · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked that this book is set in Oberlin, in my home state of Ohio. I liked that the main character is a priest who is wrestling with his duties as a priest and with his conscience as he still has feelings for his ex-high school girlfriend. The mystery itself is fairly well done, but the murderer is a bit too easily identified by at least this reader. All in all, a worthy effort and I will consider reading more of this series.

[Tammy AZ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad start for a new series. There is a lot of history going on with the characters and this will be a definite strength of the books going forward - lots of backstory to explore. Recommend for those who enjoy PBS Father Brown series or those looking for a series with a person of faith as the main character.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun read if you know Oberlin, OH. It is a murder mystery, the first by Vanek who promises more, that takes place in Oberlin, Lorain, & Cleveland. Not the best, but pretty good and it is fun to read about places that are familiar.

[Frances H Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of many, I hope

A little slow to start yet character and plot developments soon kept you interested and wanting to know more. I will look forward to more about Dr/Fr Jake’s adventures in Oberlin

[Marlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book. The main character is interesting and flawed. This is the first in a series. Looking forward to finding out what happens to Fr/Dr. Jake Austin.

[Bridget Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unusual murder mystery

A well crafted murder mystery with a complex character, a priest-medic, as the protagonist. Plenty of twists and turns keep the reader engaged to the end.

[John Vanek · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Interesting, nuanced characters in a finely wrought setting.” -- Laura Lippman, New York Times bestselling author of Wilde Lake and the award-winning Tess Monaghan series.

"John Vanek guides the reader through the seldom-seen worlds of both medicine and the priesthood. His years as a physician at a Catholic hospital make him the perfect creator of this literary mystery set in a small college town." -- Sterling Watson, author of Suitcase City and Fighting in the Shade.

“A riveting tale of mystery and murder. Superb storytelling with a deft touch by this talented author who keeps ratcheting up the tension until the explosive ending. A fast read, but the characters linger in your memory.” -- Ann O'Farrell, author of the Norah's Children Trilogy.

[John Vanek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Large print, hard-bound library edition.