Chasing After Smoke

A seemingly innocent request from a childhood playmate draws Robert Tullar into the enigmatic mystery, Chasing After Smoke. Recently widowed and still grieving, Robert is anxious for a diversion. Patty Lark's phone call, contacting him after forty years, is enticing, especially since helping her will enable him to help another old friend. They share their memories, happily absorbed in reminiscing. But a sour note lingers in the background. During their childhood, an environmental issue had surfaced in their community and, coupled with bigotry against a Native American family, had triggered a horrific tragedy. When Patty's request draws Robert back to his boyhood home, he reinvestigates that catastrophe, discovering disturbing evidence which compels him to probe deeper into the mystery. Poignant childhood recollections compete with personal innuendo in Brad Buettner's remarkable novel. Things aren't what they seem. Even Patty's request isn't innocent. Robert finds himself enmeshed in a fight that he hadn't anticipated. Old friends become suspicious of each other. Bitterness surfaces, accusations fly, all leading to an astounding climax where long-held beliefs are destroyed and new truths surface. Will justice prevail? What is real justice? Chasing After Smoke searches for an answer, but smoke is hard to catch.