Blind Man’s Buff

A complete novella plus two short stories Helping blind Paul Anders find a boy's mother (see Blind Man and the Bimbo) convinced Marcie she ought to be a detective. Her first assignment results in an attempt on Paul's life. To keep her and Paul out of further harm's way, the detective agency sends the unlikely pair to investigate repeated acts of sabotage in a nudist camp. Paul soon stumbles on the saboteurs and trails them up a mountain path. Clubbed unconscious, he wakes to find himself at the mercy of some sharp-hoofed ostriches. Despite opposition from the camp authorities-in part the result of Paul's being caught outside the camp while still nude, he continues with the investigation. The trail leads to a religious retreat led by Paul's old nemesis the Reverend Boyle. Drugged and tied to a chair in the Temple sanctuary, death seems inevitable, until Helen, Paul's new friend, comes to lead him to safety. The problem is that she seems to knows too much, may not be as innocent as she seems.

Paul Anders lost his sight in an explosion at the 1992 Olympics. He was forced into an early retirement from the medical school where he taught and has adopted a second career as a writer, being among the earliest to take advantage of voice-recognition software. Like the protagonist of his mysteries, he owns and lives in a set of garden apartments in Huntington Beach. He isn’t visited often enough by his three daughters.