Days and Hours
By Susan Meissner

“Days and Hours” could best be categorized as a Christian mystery novel. But it’s not a pulpit pounding type of Christianity. The book basically portrays ordinary people who just happen to be Christians. They mention church once, God a sprinkling of times, and “I have to pray about it” once, perhaps twice. The main character, Rachel Flynn, is an attorney for the county, and occasionally has dreams, which give her clues to solve the case.

“Days and Hours" is the third in the “Rachel Flynn Mystery” series and the author often mentions things that happened in the first two books. I skipped over those passages as they gave away what happened in the other mysteries. I’m not sure why writers do that in book series, as it negates your reason for reading the previous volumes.

At any rate, this is not a “come to Jesus” novel. It is based on the author’s real life experience working with unwed mothers. On her website she says, “When I was a guardian ad litem for the state of Minnesota, I was introduced to the world of the single mother who lives in poverty, dependent on the state, and often woefully unprepared for motherhood. I delved into that world in Days & Hours, my latest release, paying particular attention to the stigma we place on the stuck-on-welfare mom. They are not one-size fits all demographic. Some cannot find success no matter how hard they try. Some simply don’t try. Most love their children as best they can.”

The book is about Rachel Flynn, a county prosecuting attorney. She is married and has a very young daughter. Rachel is assigned a case where a teenage mother, Marcie, gives birth to her third child from a third man, (only this time she does not know who the father is) brings the child home, only to have him kidnapped and abandoned in dumpster. The police believe Marcie did it, as she has drug and alcohol problems. But, they do not have any real evidence. Rachel believes Marcie is innocent, and works to get the baby back to her. This involves doing a lot of outside research; some that the police might think oversteps her boundary and puts her in danger.
Rachel works to get Marcie’s baby back to her, but the child is immediately kidnapped again. Rachel must rely on her instinct, analyze her dreams to see if she is missing things, and do some of her own police work to solve the case.

“Days and Hours” is a good mystery. The mention of various soft drinks by name was slightly jarring, and seemed a bit like product placement, but other than that, it was worth the time to read it. It gets a bit slow in the middle, but really picks up at the end and morphs into a real page-turner.

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