CBN.com - In the Old Testament,
the prophet Jonah tries to find a corner in the world where
he can escape the obligations that God has placed upon his life.
As hard as he tries Jonah just cant seem to shake his calling.
Eventually, he realizes that God has a way of closing in on
him in a very loving and compassionate way so that His will
is done.
This theme of realizing that no one is beyond redemption serves as
a telling backdrop for Craig Parshalls new legal thriller Missing
Witness.
The fourth installment in his Chambers of Justice series, Parshall departs
from the rigid rigors of military justice in The Accused and
escapes to the breezy summer environs of North Carolinas Outer Banks.
All attorney Will Chambers wants to do is get away for a lazy, hazy
stress free summer with his wife Fiona. All is going as planned until
Chambers reluctantly agrees to accept a local inheritance case involving
Jonathan Joppa, a down on his luck minister. He quickly finds himself
embroiled in a legal fight that requires him to prove the innocence
of a man who died 300 years earlier. In the process, Chambers discovers
that there is a much murkier undercurrent to this case than what appears
on the surface.
Sensing the challenge, Chambers jumps whole heartedly into the case
by inundating himself into the romanticized folklore of piracy along
the Carolina coast and its present day ancestor, drug smuggling.
"The whole idea of drug dealing and piracy on the high seas really
is an issue that a lot of people aren't aware of," explained Parshall,
in a recent interview with CBN.com. "The fact that the ocean, according
to a lot of experts is the most dangerous place on the earth right now,
we still have modern day pirates that are called drug smugglers. There
have been some 1,200 acts of documented piracy over the last two years.
So, that is very much still a reality."
An inherent question that presents itself very early in Missing
Witnesss 400 pages is whether proving the innocence of a man
who allegedly committed a crime 300 years in the past is even possible.
It is only natural to think that there would be some sort of statute
of limitations that would make such a case null and void. While this
is certainly true for a legal matter, proving the innocence of Joppas
distant ancestor Isaac Joppa falls into the realm of a civil case.
"Courts have upheld all types of things as a condition for receiving
an inheritance," said Parshall. "Some testators (people who
draw up the will) require somebody accept a certain religious belief
or not marry a certain person. And the courts have actually upheld almost
all of those conditions no matter how bizarre they are. So, as I looked
into the law on this I thought it probably would not be in the realm
of nonsense to believe that a court would uphold the requirement that
someone prove the innocence of an ancestor from a pending charge as
a condition of taking something out of the will."
At the heart of this story is a personal battle that Jonathan Joppa
must overcome that reaches far beyond proving the innocence of an almost
mythical ancestor. He is a broken man who has seemingly lost his soul
to the ravages brought forth by the death of a loved one and the perilous
drug-induced downfall of another family member. Due to his checkered
spiritual background, Chambers finds himself in a position to help.
"We know that it is futile to run from Gods will and it is better
to seek serving Him in the way He wants us to do it," remarked
Parshall. "Will becomes sort of an unintended spiritual mentor
for him. He can relate because he had to come from a background of agnosticism
rather than spiritual fullness. So, they have a chance to have iron
sharpen iron as the Bible says."
In Missing
Witness Parshall deliberately pares down his cast of characters
to hone in on Wills relationship with Fiona. This is not to say that
he has eliminated his usual assortment of colorful people. Along for
the ride is the books chief nemesis Blackjack Morgan, a salty, modern
day pirate, whose chief motive is to prove Isaac Joppas guilt; Morgans
sidekick, Orville Putrie, a sort of intellectual genius gone bad; and
Virgil McPherson, an attorney who shares the same dogged pursuit for
courtroom victory that Chambers does. The only difference is that he
is on the opposite side of the bench.
Ultimately, this book is a legal thriller wrapped inside a very poignant
love story with a twist. Simply put, it is a love story wrapped within
a love story. It is not just about Chambers love for Fiona but is a
metaphor for a love story that took place 300 years in the past.
I highly recommend this book for one distinct reason. Craig Parshall
has the innate ability to provide fresh compelling storytelling from
a Judeo-Christian perspective but with enough grit to appeal to a mass
secular audience. He is a master of finding that line that exists between
realism and idealized sometimes candy coated story lines that often
defy contemporary modern living.
Missing
Witness is a prime example of these qualities as it not only
delivers legal storytelling in its finest from but more importantly
it portrays people as they really are. Will Chambers is a Christian
who struggles in his daily walk of faith just as you and I do. That
is certainly a commendable quality that will appeal to readers from
all walks of life.
If you havent done so already, do yourself a favor today and pick
up a copy of Missing
Witness.