Vicky Johnson’s killer rolled onto his right side, drew his knees up under the warm covers and cautiously peeked through the darkness at the crisp digits of the clock-radio counting his last moments on earth, death waiting patiently for him to shower and dress. The secret he thought, is not to open your eyes and let the world in.

"Dutch!" Jean’s clear voice ascended the stairs. "I know you’re awake."

6:45. The radio made a soft, electronic noise and came alive. "...barrows and gilts moved steadily higher in South St. Paul with feeder pigs lagging behind earlier gains at yesterday’s closing market..." He snapped it off. They’d find Vicky’s body this morning. Maybe had already. Then a day - two at most - they’d come for him but he’d already be dead.

So begins the story of Phillip "Dutch" Cleland, a man with a hidden past and a future about to explode in his face. A seemingly average man whose love for two women drives him to such extremes that deception, even suicide and murder are no longer unthinkable.

When a lovely corpse is discovered near Dutch’s home town the nearby ditches begin to yield a harvest of secrets, none of them comforting for Dutch. Soon he’s forced to flee for his life, before his past and the police slip a noose around his neck.

He leaves behind a loyal wife and the only place he’s ever called home. Haunted by sinful memories he makes his way north outrunning a vicious blizzard and an even greater threat, his paramour’s other lovers, one of whom is a well-known psychopath bent on an evil plan of destruction for Dutch and all he holds dear.

Things In Ditches is peopled with small town characters so humorous and eccentric, their oddball antics enliven every paragraph and page. You can’t help but be reeled in by the strange citizens of Willow River, until you soon discover they’re really not so different from all of us and Dutch’s story is the oldest story on earth; good and evil, betrayal and laughter. And finally, the power of love and friendship, forging one man’s determination to overcome all odds, even death.

 Buy the Book     Reviews