Dave Strickland Mystery / Suffer Little Children / Thomas D. Davis

The victim, young Billy Bauer, suffers from Tourette’s syndrome, which causes him to have uncontrollable bouts of obscenity and blasphemy; his congregation, gathered around his father’s fundamentalist church in Azalea, California, repels Billy despite their love for Rev. Bauer. Then Dave Strickland shows up, a private investigator who has been on the run from religious beliefs since his wife and daughter died two years ago. The mystery of whether Billy was kidnapped by a rebellious rocker, an unusually sympathetic child molester or someone close to home takes a back seat to Dave’s romance with Charlene Benton and his moral debates with Rev. Bauer.