Runnin' Riot: Across the USA

Over 30 years ago, Joe Abelson's son Ethan ran off to Canada to escape the Viet Nam draft -- and his father. Joe's wife Martha, a former psychotherapist, has become an Alzheimer's victim. Though a loving and dedicated caregiver, Joe strays shortly after 9/11 towards a woman he met in an internet chat room. He believes she was Ellie, a girl at a servicemen's canteen in Baltimore during WWII.

The Law of Unintended Consequences sets in motion. Unexplainable events occur leading to a homicide and police action in two Connecticut towns and Montgomery County, Maryland. Whodunit? It could be anyone of the enemies Joe made as a city manager, according to friend Charley. Or one of Martha's mental patients, as some police suspect. Or a vengeful Ethan who might have returned from who knows where. Two of Joe's former police chiefs chip in to help, adding complications.

The theme of this irreverent Whodunit revolves around the challenges of loneliness and intimacy in later life. The reader is left to judge whether Joe should be classified as an adulterer, or assigned to a special, new category reserved for caregivers who stray.