Ralph G Skillen

Thou Shalt Not Covet Ralph G Skillen

Publisher Marketing: As he approached the back door, it opened. He saw the flash but did not hear the roar of the shotgun as it emptied its load into his chest. The door closed and opened minutes later as the shooter stepped out. A spent shotgun shell dropped to the driveway beside Dick Andrews' body. The shooter walked across the street to a waiting automobile. Dr. Tony O'Hara is certain of Tom Pickett's innocence in the murder of a mutual friend, so when freelance investigative reporter Jeff Colby approaches him, Tony is happy to share his thoughts. Utter rejection of the edict thou shalt not covet, Tony explains, is fundamental to almost all wrongdoing; and Jeff, an agnostic at best, readily grasps the concept. What surfaces during the investigation is a web of lies that spreads far beyond what could have been imagined, a conspiracy with the endlessly dangerous evil of covetousness at its core. The danger did not pass with the death of Dick Andrews, nor will his be the last murder... The Gospel message is seamlessly woven through this "Romantic Murder Story." "Tell me true, Jeff: how many commandments do you think you have broken in your lifetime?" Jeff thought a moment before he said, "I just ran out of fingers. Ten." "Then like the rest of us, you are a sinner," Tony announced. "Congratulations. A Christian must understand that about himself. When you get a glimmering of the extent of God's love for you and His desire to redeem you from your own sin, you will come to love Him in return..." Tony and Jeff, along with their families and close friends, find themselves at the heart of a lethal confrontation between truth and desperate deceit. How far will some go to conceal their misdeeds? How far does forgiveness stretch?"