The Woke and the Dead

His discovery of a bullet-ridden body steers a former Arizona homicide detective to resume investigating, even if it leads to corruption at the highest state level.

In Bacon’s fifth installment of a mystery series, ex-homicide detective Lyle Deming finds the body of a caterer in the parking lot of the Nostalgic City theme park in Arizona. Working as a cab driver at the park to escape the stress of his former occupation, Lyle discovers the body the morning after the place’s informal “gay day.” The killing is personal to Lyle, as his adopted daughter, Sam, a college student, is a good friend of the deceased’s daughter. Because the caterer serviced gay weddings and the park just had the large LGBTQ+ gathering, the murder might have been a hate crime, but Gov. Rod Gudgel disagrees, saying, “The woke media are making too much out of this. Just a random shooting.” Gudgel soon starts antagonizing park officials and, without reason, labels Nostalgic City rides as potentially unsafe, creating a nightmare situation for Kate Sorensen, the park’s public relations director and Lyle’s girlfriend. Known for his unbridled hate speech against marginalized groups, Gudgel and his minions threaten to divide Arizona society. The governor’s connection with a Saudi company called Ecoperi, which owns land in Arizona, raises even more concerns. To help her friends Lyle and Kate bring down Gudgel, 30-something park Vice President Drenda Adair infiltrates the governor’s campaign office, getting far more than she bargained for. The fairly predictable story is perhaps a bit too on the nose, given the country’s current political climate. That said, the novel is a rapid-paced, engrossing thriller. Although the lucid book works effectively as a stand-alone mystery, reading the series in order would be helpful as the backstories of the characters are not thoroughly fleshed out. The conversations certainly seem authentic, but touches of humor are missing; there is a lot of talk about commercial planning, shooting ranges, and beer.

An engaging tale of murder, politics, and good old boys being no good at all.