David Carlson, a recently retired professor of philosophy and religion at Franklin College, will celebrate a fourth installment to his fictional mystery/thriller series with an appearance on Thursday, Dec. 5 at 7 p.m., at HamiltonONE, located on the first floor of the B.F. Hamilton Library at Franklin College. The event is free and open to the community and refreshments and door prizes will be provided. Books will be available for purchase at the event.

In the Clutches of the Wicked, the fourth book in Carlson’s Christopher Worthy and Father Nicholas Fortis series, the two main characters return to New Mexico to help their friend, Lieutenant Sera Lacey. The story centers on a family that was once strong, but is now falling apart. The toll of the war in Afghanistan on this family plays a major part in the story.

This fourth mystery returns to the setting of the first novel, but three years later. Worthy, Fortis, and Lacey are caught in a mystery with roots in Afghanistan but branches in present-day New Mexico. Issues in this story include PTSD, runaway teenagers and military cover-ups.

Paperback editions of In the Clutches of the Wicked are available for purchase on Amazon, Target, Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble and the Franklin College Bookstore for $15.95. Wholesale orders can be placed through Baker & Taylor, Ingram, Brodart Company at orders@epicenterpress.com. To schedule an interview with Carlson or request review copies of his books, contact Wiley Saichek at saichekpublicity@gmail.com.

The previous titles in the series, Let These Bones Live Again (Coffeetown Press 2018), Let the Dead Bury the Dead (Coffeetown Press 2017) and Enter by the Narrow Gate (Coffeetown Press 2016) are also available for purchase online.

This winter, Carlson will speak again about In the Clutches of the Wicked at a book signing at Wild Geese Bookshop in downtown Franklin. The session will be held Tuesday, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m.

Carlson also writes nonfiction. His first work of nonfiction, Peace Be With You: Monastic Wisdom for a Terror-Filled World, was selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 in the area of Spiritual Living by Library Journal. His second book on religious terrorism, Countering Religious Extremism: The Healing Power of Spiritual Friendships, was released by New City Press in April 2017.

Carlson has a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Wheaton College, a Master of Arts degree in biblical theology from the American Baptist Seminary of the West, located in Berkeley, California, and a doctorate in New Testament studies from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. He taught at Franklin College for 40 years and retired this past May. For more information, please visit www.davidccarlson.net.