The Lovestruck Detective

When environmentalist Jack Archer discovers a body bobbing along the bank of the Missouri River, he's shocked to realize that the dead man is the gay owner of an antiques store in Jack's small hometown. Asked by a wealthy, divorced lawyer to help her investigate, Jack reluctantly agrees, oblivious to the danger of her charms…

The Lovestruck Detective is a mystery that readers won't put down. It entertains with unforgettable characters who engage readers' emotions from love to hate and admiration to disgust. And its love story -- between a younger man and an older divorced woman with children -- touches the heart while exploring the possibilities in less conventional relationships. The setting is off the beaten path and features magnificent nature and an eccentric small-town community that is both reassuring in its warmth and frightening in its danger. The action takes readers from the fringes of society to ultra-wealthy enclaves. The novel is thought-provoking. Its political and environmental themes and its diverse characters -- ranging from a gay African-American man and his partner to white nationalists -- challenge preconceptions and biases. And, of course, its plot has surprising twists that will frustrate readers hoping to guess who the murderer is. The book is targeted at lovers of mysteries in general, but particularly women readers who like their cup of crime thrills spiked with romance.

A fan of mysteries since childhood—beginning with the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, then graduating to Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Dashiel Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Dorothy Sayers and P.D. James—it's not surprising that M.C. Anderson chose the mystery genre when he began writing his own novels. During his career as a newspaperman, Anderson held various editing roles at The Kansas City Star, where he wrote an occasional column as well as news and feature stories. He worked on the editing and reporting staffs of The Bloomington (IL) Daily Pantagraph, The Kansas City Times and The Minneapolis Tribune. He has two adult daughters and two adult stepsons, and lives with his wife, artist Sandra Shaw, and their Shih Tzu in Thomasville in southern Georgia.