Retired local Pastor Don Lawrence recently published “Murder on a Small Town Golf Course.” It is the third book in his trilogy series, Murder in a Small Town.

Lawrence retired in January of 2017 and began writing books at that time. His latest book is the sixth that he has published. In addition to the three murder mysteries, Lawrence has published “Lessons from Life – 52 short devotionals”; “Remember Jesus – 52 Communion Thoughts and Meditations”; and “The Book of Revelation – Insights and Interpretations.” All of his books are available on Amazon in paperback or as eBooks.

Lawrence has been a resident of Fountain Hills since 1984. He was the founding pastor of Christ’s Church of Fountain Hills, where he served as pastor for 33 years. Additionally, he served on the Fountain Hills Town council for five years in the 1990s.

“I enjoy living in a small town,” Lawrence said. “When I started writing, I was encouraged by others to write about things I know. I don’t know much about murder, other than the murder mysteries I had read over the years, but I do know a lot about small town life.”

Lawrence said he decided to challenge himself with his first book.

“I always wondered if I could write a murder mystery, so I gave it a try,” he continued. “Before I knew it, one book led to two, then two books led to three.”

With “Murder in a Small Town” under his belt, Lawrence said he decided to start working areas he is more familiar with into his plots.

“For the second two mysteries, I incorporated something I knew a little about,” he said. “Thus, the second one was about murder in a small town church, the third about murder on a golf course. The other three books are, of course, all church related; devotional-type writings.”

Lawrence said he has already begun writing his next novel. This time, he is working on a Western.

“I’ve always enjoyed the writings of Zane Grey and Louis L’Amour,” Lawrence said. “So, I decided to take a shot at writing a Western.”

That book is set in the late 1800s and takes place in what was then called the Arizona Territory.