Who's Grace? (John Smyth Mystery Series #1) [Paperback]

James R. Coggins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2004

Fast paced murder mystery with a twist. A Christian magazine editor named John Smyth witnesses a murder through the window of an airplane as it descends for a landing in Winnipeg, Canada. Neither the city police nor the RCMP (Mounties) take his tip seriously until an unidentified woman's body turns up in some nearby woods two weeks later. The only clue to her identity is a necklace with a pendant bearing the name 'Grace.' Who is she, and where is her killer' As the case twists and turns, everyone involved gets to see clear evidence of the grace of God.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

DR. JAMES R. COGGINS (B.A., M.A. McMaster University; Ph.D. University of Waterloo) is an award-winning author of Mountaintop Drive, Desolation Highway, and Who's Grace? in his John Smyth Mysteries series. He previously served as an editor with the Mennonite Brethren Herald for 19 years. Dr. Coggins currently lives in British Columbia, Canada with his wife, Jackie, and their two daughters.

Product Details

• Paperback: 207 pages
• Publisher: Moody Publishers; New Edition edition (January 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802417647
• ISBN-13: 978-0802417640
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,101,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Mystery Of Grace, October 19, 2004

By 

Brandy Bauta "Bran" (Ontario) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Who's Grace? (John Smyth Mystery Series #1) (Paperback)

Here's a new one, a Christian Murder Mystery set in Vancouver, written by a Canadian author named James R. Coggins.

John Smyth a magazine editor coming back from a conference looks down while the plane starts it's descent and believes he sees a murder occurring.

Once on the ground, he reports the sighting to the RCMP. Not taking him seriously they push it off as jet lag or him just seeing things. Until two weeks later when the body of a girl with the only identifying thing on her body is a necklace with a pendent on it. The pendent has the word Grace etched in to it. The connection to John Smyth?

The magazine he edits is called Grace magazine.

While trying to clear his name, John begins to talk to his pastor friends, they in turn talk to others and a list is formed of possible missing persons. Eventually the truth is found out.... But the outcome? I cannot tell. You'll have to read the book.

3.0 out of 5 stars first in the series, August 30, 2009

By 

In My Opinion... (NH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Who's Grace? (John Smyth Mystery Series #1) (Paperback)

I do agree with the reviewer who spoke of the book being confusing as it moved between scenes w/o warning -- nothing to break off from one scene to the next.

Imagine, if you will, being on an airplane at a distance where plots of land are matchbook-size and people are matchstick-size figures. You are quite tired as you peer out your window of the plane and see what appears to be one matchstick figure aiming an object at another figure, the second figure, limbs jerking then falling, mouth agape. You then look around inside the plane to the other passengers to see if anyone else might have seen what you just have or perhaps it's just your very tired mind. That's what happened to John Smyth, the main character in "Who's Grace."

She's been identified as 3 different women - Grace Drummond, Gary's wife. Grace -- a prostitute. Grace Hutchinson -- another Grace who's been missing.

John Smyth who saw what he saw from the airplane, is being questioned as though he was a suspect. David, the street person is being questioned as though he was suspect. Gary Drummond is being questioned as though he was the guilty party.

2.0 out of 5 stars Poor characters make this book flat, July 30, 2006

By 

M. Rogers (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Who's Grace? (John Smyth Mystery Series #1) (Paperback)

This book really frustrated me. The idea was good, the writing was pretty good, but I still didn't enjoy it. First of all, Coggins spends too much time cutting back and forth from one scene to another. There is a difference between being surprised and being confused. You would be reading one situation with some characters and then, without warning, you're in a completely different situation. If the characters had been well-defined, that would not have been a problem, but they were not. So I spent a lot of time trying to figure out who was doing what.

The characters were one-dimensional. There was no depth to them, and that made it difficult to sympathize with them. All the non-Christians use stereotypes to refer to the main character, John Smyth. But by not developing the characters, Coggins is the one who trivializes Christians. There is a femi-nazi in the book who actually makes libelous statements at a public rally. One would think that a person in her position (the leader of an anti-domestic violence group) would have more sense. In fact, if she had been written with some depth, rather than relying on cookie-cutter stereotypes, the book would have been more interesting.

She was not the only poorly written character. The two main police officers cannot be civil to each other to save their lives. Again, their animosity was oversimplified. And the list of bad characters goes on and on. There's the head of the mission who shares a prayer request with a creepy reporter and a Pastor and his wife who evangelize every person the meet, and so on.

I won't get into how the murder is solved, because I don't want to ruin it for anyone who still wants to read this book. But suffice it to say, I was disappointed. If I was not the type of person who pretty much always finishes a novel that I start, I would not have read this book to the end.