Agate “Aggie” Wilcox is trying to fit in to the small town life of Emerald Springs, Ohio, where her husband Ed is the pastor of the Consolidated Community Church. It’s not easy to turn the other cheek when her actions are subject to judgment by the conservative congregants, and the Women’s Society Board has the power to make decisions about everything in their parsonage home from the height of the lilac bushes to the color of the new toilet seat. Aggie is particularly hard pressed to find the patience of Job to deal with the Society President, Gelsey Falowell, who has taken a strong, inexplicable dislike to the kind, gentle Ed.  

The Wilcoxes left behind pulpits in Boston and Washington DC to find a quiet Midwestern life, but by page 11 of the novel, the reader learns that any hope of serenity is impossible. Just as the Women’s Society Board arrives for a visit, someone dumps a dead, nude body on the parsonage’s front steps. The unfortunate victim turns out to be a troubled young woman whom Ed had briefly counseled. When Ed refuses to tell the police the subject of their discussions, or why they were seen arguing vehemently just a day earlier, suspicion falls on him and Gelsey ratchets up her campaign to have him fired.

Aggie has faith in the local police, especially hunky detective Kirk Roussos, but she decides to do a little sleuthing on her own to help clear Ed’s name and reassure herself that her family is not at risk from a psychotic serial killer. Utilizing her unofficial position as congregational archivist, Aggie starts exploring the past and present secrets of Emerald Springs with the help of her best friend Lucy. To her surprise, she discovers that even the pillars of the town’s society have a lot to hide. But which secrets were so shocking that someone was willing to kill to keep them under wraps?

  Richards excels at interesting, well-developed characters, although with a mystery to solve within a brief 250 pages she has less of an opportunity to fully flesh out the inhabitants of Emerald Springs. Aggie is a sympathetic heroine with an interesting upbringing: her oft-married mother was a wandering free spirit and her father was a paranoid survivalist. Her first person narrative is earnest, occasionally humorous and insightful. The other characters are a little more sketchy, especially outrageous best friend Lucy (doesn’t anyone fictional have a best friend who is shy and polite?). Ed seems like a nice guy, but he’s somewhat of a cipher and he fades into the background for much of the story.

What Richards does portray with pinpoint accuracy are the “interesting and occasionally harrowing” aspects of the ministry. While Ed is interested in teaching, guiding and counseling the parishioners, he can’t avoid the politics and gossip that inevitably accompany the role.

  For a novice mystery writer, Richards does a good job of letting Aggie gradually piece together clues, with a few red herrings along the way. The motive for the crime is conventional and the suspense minimal, but the climax is exciting and impressively plausible considering the unusual skills Aggie learned in her childhood.  

The next Ministry is Murder novel is scheduled for release in December 2006. Perhaps Richards will have more of an opportunity in that and future episodes to develop her characters. I’d like to know more about how Aggie and Ed met and courted, and if Detective Roussos will prove more of a temptation for the faithful minister’s wife. I also wonder how older daughter Deena will tackle adolescence, and whether younger daughter Teddy will ever stop holding mock funerals for the family cat. I confess that I’m more interested in the next installment of Richards’ Shenandoah Album women’s fiction series than in Let There Be Suspects, but any new book by this gifted author is cause for celebration.  

--Susan Scribner