ALL THINGS HIDDEN

The deep religious faith of a Florida homicide detective helps her bust up a white supremacist group and survive a personal crisis.

In spite of sexism and racism, African-American single mom Jael Reynolds is the leading homicide detective on the Dadesville police force. Jael and her handsome partner Rick Sills are investigating the death of an apparent drug dealer in a local crack house and a second shooting on the street that may be related. Jael’s mood is not improved by another showdown with her egotistical ex Virgil, arriving to take their eight-year-old son Ramon away for the weekend. And her anger turns to grief when Tee Tee, the younger brother of her friend and prayer partner Brenda, becomes the next victim. At this crime scene, someone slips Jael an anonymous note threatening more crimes. Enter hunky African-American FBI agent Eric Grant. Setting aside their mutual physical attraction—as required by both professionalism and morality—the duo investigates an activist group called MAD DADS, which Grant suspects is either a front or a pawn of white supremacists. They’re close to cracking the case when Ramon is kidnapped. With the strength of the Lord, Jael confronts a villain who is “evil incarnate.”

The derivative plot is enlivened by Candis’s energetic prose. What truly distinguishes this debut, however, is the infusion of Jesus into every facet of the story and every aspect of the heroine’s life.