The Detective Jake series is more than stories about a detective solving one homicide after another. Throughout the novels, there are various Christian themes. In Detective Jake : Search for Truth, Jake is faced with the death of a loved one and must search his own belief system to help him make some sense of the death. To his surprise, he's presented with beliefs he'd once held and, against every effort he makes to deny them, finds those truths are the only ones which make sense. Jake's spiritual awakening and growth is a continuing theme.
     Some people will read the series and wonder how a Christian writer can have characters who are so against God. They'll be surprised by the anti-Christian things said by Jake or other characters. For Jake, this is necessary to show how he progresses during his search for the meaning of life and death. Other characters reflect the fact that not all people we meet are Christians. In some stories, characters may use the Bible in order to try to justify the crimes they commit.
      I'm not using Christian themes to try to convince unbelievers they're wrong. Throughout the series, Christians will, at times, be the bad guys. Through long theological discussions with friends, I've discovered many Christians are also dissatisfied by the behaviors of other Christians. By incorporating parts of these discussions into the plot lines, I hope to get other Christians to think about the issues and the resultant solutions, good or bad. I don't want to put down non-Christians, I want to get Christians to give more thought to their own beliefs.
     These themes also give me a way to take what may be a common enough crime and twist the plot line into something different. Everyone views the world through a set of beliefs, religious or otherwise. I view the world through my Christian beliefs and, as a result, so do the characters in my novels. Jake will have a unique view of each situation because he has stood on both sides. Some characters may make their decision about the "wrongness" of a particular crime based solely on religious beliefs, while Jake can see it from that perspective as well as from a strictly legal point of view. When it comes to people using the Bible to justify their actions, Jake knows enough to show them where they are wrong.