Vested interest: "a special concern or stake in maintaining or influencing a condition, arrangement, or action especially for selfish ends." —Merriam Webster Dictionary.
In Vested Interest: A David Elliott Mystery, an attractive, intelligent young member of David Elliott's congregation disappears; fear and ugly rumors spread throughout the community and the congregation. After her strangled body is found, the autopsy reveals startling details. The investigation, hampered by a lack of solid evidence, proceeds slowly. When another member of David Elliott's congregation dies mysteriously, the increasing anxiety rips the church apart and intensifies David's doubt of his ability and self-worth. David finds evidence that appears to incriminate members of his congregation as killers. His daring plan to confront the killers erupts in violence and death before the killers can be brought to justice.
About the Author
Bailey Herrington hails from western Pennsylvania. After completing studies at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, he served congregations for twenty-four years. In addition to writing weekly sermons, Bailey created his "altar" ego, Pious Pete the Protestant Pope. In congregational newsletters, he used humor and satire to poke fun at the foibles of the organized church and, most frequently, at himself.
His books, What the Barber Knew, Dead to Rights, Pack of Scoundrels, and The Girl in the Orange Maillot, are fictional accounts of actual crimes. In 2023, Book Trib named Dead to Rights one of the twenty-five best books of the year. Herrington has presented book talks at book stores, libraries, book clubs and a winery in North Carolina and New Mexico. In addition to writing murder mysteries, Herrington writes an occasional blog for his website, www.baileyherrington.com and for a WordPress feature he named Tales from the Skip (Skip being his lifelong nickname).
Bailey lives with his wife in Las Cruces, New Mexico where they enjoy the company of wonderful friends, traveling to museums and archaeological sites, and learning more about the history and culture of Southwest Indigenous peoples. Bailey enjoys watching baseball, playing golf, and cooking. He loves to talk with and listen to strangers in supermarkets, bars, restaurants, a car dealership, and bookstores, and he invites folks to contact him via his email address: herringtonbd@gmail.com.
