The Cantaloupe Thief by Deb Richardson-Moore

Too many people are staying silent about a ten--year--old murder case--it's time for reporter Branigan Powers to investigate Branigan Powers knows a good story when she sees one--and the ten--year--old cold case of wealthy Alberta Grambling Resnick's murder definitely makes the cut. Resnick was stabbed in her home after she let it slip that she was planning to change her will. There are plenty of suspects in the death of the matriarch of the town's founding family, but the killer has never been caught.

Now Branigan must do some serious digging to get her story. She knows the town's homeless community might have seen something; she also knows that the local cops wouldn't have thought of questioning these often--invisible people. There's a big problem, though; as Branigan starts digging, the homeless start dying. When her twin brother, a long--time addict, gets involved, the consequences of her investigation may hit a little too close to home.

Set in the fictional small town of Grambling, Georgia, The Cantaloupe Thief is the first in a new mystery series by Deb Richardson--Moore. The author is herself a former journalist and works extensively with the homeless, lending weight to the portrayal of a believable and engaging whodunit.


About The Author

For 27 years, Deb Richardson-Moore was a reporter for "The Greenville (SC) News," winning three national writing awards and routine recognition from the South Carolina Press Association. She was a wife, mother of three, and that suburban cliche, a minivan-driving soccer mom.

She then took over the religion beat at "The News" and enrolled in a nearby seminary to learn more about it. Her life was never the same. She left the newspaper and earned a master of divinity degree. Because jobs for clergywomen were scarce in her own Baptist denomination, she accepted a job as pastor of the non-denominational Triune Mercy Center, a crumbling, inner-city mission church to the homeless.

"The Weight of Mercy" chronicles her first three turbulent years among her homeless congregants. Here's what novelist Davis Bunn, writer-in-residence at Oxford University, has to say about it:

"This is an amazingly well written work, a genuine testimony of hope in the dark recesses of our times. The words are laid out with an artist's precision, and their smoothness makes this not just a powerful read, but a genuine entry into a world we all need to know better. Perhaps the most important thing I can say about this is, I found Jesus in these pages. Highly recommended."

Deb is a graduate of Wake Forest University and Erskine Theological Seminary. She and her husband, Vince, have three grown children.


My Review

  This story takes place in Grambling Georgia and a hometown reporter is given an assignment of investigating a ten-year-old unsolved murder. Once you turn that first page you are off on a page tuning adventure, that won’t let up until the last page is turned and you know the answers, who did it!
This town has a rather large population of homeless, the unseen, and that I can understand, you do see them, but try not to look, they are there but not really. A lot of them have drug, alcohol, and mental problems, and we see the churches trying to help with meals and some beds, a problem, but are there answers, and does one of these lost souls know the answer to who committed the horrendous crime?
The story focuses on Branigan’s mission to find answers, and she turns to her friend Liam a Pastor and a man with a big heart to help the homeless population. He wants her to help him find justice to one of the mission’s known, who were recently killed; no one is looking into his death. As we journey deeper into these mysteries, my mind kept switching as to who was the culprit in these murders, and kept changing my mind as to who was the suspect.
You are going to be surprised as to who it is, but I never saw it coming, and the ones I chose, were not the suspect, or were they. The author has done a wonder job of bringing us to the end of the book, and I couldn’t wait to get there, but then I didn’t want the story to end.
I received this book through Kregel Publishing Blogger Program, and was not required to give a positive review.