The Prayer Meeting Guise: A Novel by J. Garret Horvath as told to C. F. Pletcher

THE PRAYER MEETING GUISE is a mystery/suspense novel loosely based on a true incident, occurring near a Mid-American college campus in the fall of 1963. To keep up with the mounting costs of his college education, Gary Horvath and three friends begin sponsoring small dinner parties for Defense Officials who routinely visit suppliers in Milwaukee. The venue consists of a 5-star meal, booze and a toss in the hay. Nora Finn, Gary’s upstairs neighbor, is the featured attraction. An impoverished mother of two, she needs cash to whisk her kids off to points unknown; away from their potentially abusive step-father whose truck-driving regimen keeps him from home four nights a week. Gary’s fraternity brother Ron Demski, who did a hitch in the Army Corps of Engineers prior to starting college, is the conduit between the local contractors and their clients who attend the weekly soirees under the guise of Prayer Meetings. Candy Mansfield, a retired military Officer’s Club manager, expertly caters these assemblages, hosting them in a home she rents known as The Gatehouse. Part of a renovated industrialist’s estate, it sits on church property. After overhearing conspiratorial discussions among attendees, Candy soon deems a plot is underfoot to embarrass President John F. Kennedy on the world stage in an effort to prevent a second term. Conversations with several underground D. C. sources convince her these guests may be linked to a rogue group suspected of rigging The Bay of Pigs fiasco with similar intent. Known as The Big Event, it’s scheduled for November 22nd. Terror mounts as foreboding occurrences become more commonplace for Candy and Gary, in whom she’s confided her fears. There is little doubt that somebody is aware the two of them are privy to this endeavor. They also begin to see evidence that their partner Ron Demski may be part of this covert scheme, further compounding their anxiety. Gary’s lot takes yet another turn for the worse when he’s drawn into an undercover campus investigation against his will. Though seemingly unrelated to the alleged Big Event, circumstances beyond coincidence cause him to suspect otherwise. As both crises become indiscernible from one another, Gary sees only two paths ahead of him; each ending life as he knows it, forever. On November 22nd, the President and Officer Tippit will not be the only fatalities…