Matter of Discretion

It's 1974. Vietnam is a recent memory. For Father Damon Keith, reassigned to Quantico, it's a time for new beginnings and familiar challenges. The heroic sacrifice of Navy Chaplain Vincent Capodanno, post-humously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, may be fresh in the American public's mind, but in some quarters a peacetime military chaplaincy is considered expendable. Michael O'Shea, Quantico's top prosecutor and Father Damon's oldest friend, has asked him to instruct his bride-to-be in the faith. At first skeptical, Mia Rodgers is willing to approach Roman Catholicism with an open mind. But within days of Damon's arrival on base, a Woman Marine is found sexually assaulted and murdered, and a Marine chaplain's assistant is placed in custody for the crime. Strange telephone calls seem to implicate someone from Damon's past—or even the priest himself. It's up to NIS Special Agent Harry Reiner, ex-Philly cop, recovering alcoholic and former altar boy, to make sense of it all . . .

Donna Lee Davis became Catholic at Marine Memorial Chapel in 1969. Her 33-year career at Quantico included six years as Chaplains Office Secretary and 27 in court reporting within the military justice system, most of them as Senior Court Reporter. Upon retirement Donna was awarded the Navy Department's Meritorious Civilian Service Medal. She has twice self-published poetry, Sheer Poetry in 1981 and Sheer Poetry Revisited in 2007. Her short fiction has appeared in the international magazine Carpe Articulum Literary Review (2010), print issues and online, and has been short listed for the Chicago Tribune's Nelson Algren Award (2007). In 2016 she authored Here Is the Church: A History of St. Mary Parish, the story of the coming of age of Catholicism in historic Fredericksburg, Virginia. Donna is proud that she was born in Philadelphia, but she has been a Virginian since sixth grade. She lives in Hartwood.