The Search for Melvin (The Joe MacGregor series)

The Search for Melvin, set in 1959-1960, the third book in THE JOE MACGREGOR SERIES, may at times leave the readers on the edge of their seats. A private investigator sets out to find a kidnapped teenager and ends up facing a killer tiger. Searchers trek through the forest looking for clues, hoping to find a dead body. Joe comes close to death again during a high-speed chase in the sheriff’s squad car. A boy disabled by polio hitches a ride in the trunk of a stolen vehicle. A could-be witch wants to trade information in exchange for eye surgery. The people of Small Town, Mo., come upon the aftermath of a straight-out execution, and there is a mysterious creature, or is there?

There’s family conflict, murder, anger between friends, talk of black magic and mercenaries, men considered giants, a thriller high-speed chase, and a heroic dwarf who’s a trapeze artist and magician, not to mention humor to balance out the trauma.

Small town, Missouri, still does not know another war lurks in the future.

The first book in the series, A SUIT FOR MELVIN, illustrates the maturity of a friendship during which an underprivileged seventh grader, who lives with his grandmother, works to see that a poverty-stricken boy in his class gets his chance to go to a dance intended for all seventh-grade students. J.J., a mischievous boy, who has very little himself, tries to help Melvin who he sees as someone less fortunate than himself. The situation grows sinister, and the reader has an opportunity to then see Melvin’s growth.

The second book, A HORSE FOR JOE, also set in 1959-1960, is dedicated to the writer’s high school classmates and college peers who served in Vietnam as is this book, A SEARCH FOR MELVIN. We see Joe adjust to a new family, fight his sexual emotions, try to run from a stalker, escape death.

Every soldier was once a child.

(Footnotes are provided in the back of the book. It is the hope of the author to share what expressions of the era meant at the time and to ensure continued education. The author may be reached at jjennings29@cox.net.