Detective Cameron Ballack is not only back; he’s on a roll. Two mysteries so far this year!
The wheelchair-bound detective is the creation of writer Luke Davis. He’s works with the Greater St. Louis Special Investigative Division. The unit functions as a special task force focused on murder and occasionally general mayhem.
In The Burning Glow, published in June, he helped track down a car bomber. In his recent adventure, An Academy of Murder, Ballack finds himself on farm more familiar ground. A janitor has been found dead at King’s Prep, a private Christian school. It almost looks like suicide, but the forensic investigation shows it was murder.
The setting is personal because Cameron’s father, Martin, had taught there until he left for elsewhere. And much of the reason had to do with Cameron. The school’s administration had been unwilling to accommodate a special needs child.
The reader knows before Cameron and his team do that the janitor had come across evidence of a cheating scandal involving the chemistry class. Then the chemistry teacher is brutally attacked. Another murder follows. The school administration is something less than welcoming, and the tension with the investigators doesn’t help the investigation.
Cameron will do more than track down a killer. He will also uncover part of his own personal story, a part he never knew.
Davis teaches at Westminster Christian Academy in St. Louis and chairs the Bible Department there. He’s also taught at schools in Louisiana, Florida, and Virginia. He describes himself as “Presbyterian body, Lutheran heart, Anglican blood, Orthodox spirit,” all of which have served him well in writing the Cameron Ballack mysteries. He has published five Ballack mysteries, Litany of Secrets (2013), The Broken Cross (2015), A Shattered Peace (2017), and A Burning Glow (2026); and now An Academy of Murder; and Joel: The Merivalkan Chronicles Book 1 (2017). He blogs at For Grace and Kingdom.
An Academy of Murder is a terrific read. If you’re from St. Louis, there’s the added fun of seeing the places the police team visit, the roads and highways they travel, and the numerous references to the institutions of the city (including a few restaurants). It’s a fine mystery, full of twists and turns navigated by an exceptionally intelligent police mind.
Related:
My review of Tides of Death by Luke H. Davis.
My review of Island Games by Luke H. Davis.
Redemption: The Church in Ancient Times by Luke H. Davis.
Reign: The Church in the Middle Ages by Luke H. Davis.
Reform: The Church at the Birth of Protestantism by Luke H. Davis.
Renewal: The Church That Expands Outward by Luke H. Davis.
Reading a Novel that Stars Your Hometown.
My review of Litany of Secrets.
My review of The Broken Cross.
My review of A Shattered Peace.
