Sam Springer is amoral, and by the end of the story, a nihilist. “I believed in nothing.” He abandons his career as an accountant for that of a novelist, with some success. He has one novel published, but the money soon runs out. He deserts his wife in Miami with a stack of unpaid bills and moves to North Florida to become a fake preacher because he thinks he’ll have more time to write.

Sam changes his name to the Right Reverend Deuteronomy Springer and becomes the pastor of a black church. “The less a minister believes, the more effective he is when he talks about religion.”

At the end he is alone in New York City, having abandoned two woman and his previous lives. He plans to write and live off stolen donations. Sam knows he’s arrived at a state of nothingness. “The church was not my way; I didn’t have a way.” ( )

Another trip through the wild wonderful wacky world of Willeford. A bored accountant turned into a one-shot novelist moves from Columbus, Ohio to Miami, Florida, where his money starts to run out. So he heads out to write a story about a monastery that is closing, and from that point, the wild ride begins. The abbot, an ex-NCO (as was Willeford) ordains him and sends him to Jax (presumably Jacksonville) to lead an all-Black church, where he runs into an interesting set of characters. Like many Willeford protagonists, the ex-writer, now known as The Right Reverend Deuteronomy Springer, is completely amoral and just seems to do whatever comes to mind, so long as it suits his self-interest at the time. He is clever, so we can enjoy his extemporaneous first sermon (after the original beginning of the sermon when he starts talking about Franz Kafka elicits blank stares from the congregation) and his seduction of the wife of a prominent church member. Well, seduction isn't quite the word, but this is Willeford, so everything in the book is cockeyed. There's also the beginning of a bus boycott, where the Reverend Springer turns out to be a lot less helpful than he seems to be. If you are into Willeford, you won't want to miss this one. If you aren't into Willeford, invest three or four hours with this one - you'll have a lot more fun than reading the latest 700 page best seller. ( )

http://www.fireandsword.com/Reviews/blackmass.html

Charles Willeford was the king of Florida noir. He wrote taut novels of odd loners who just couldn’t stay alone and draw others to their ruin.

Sam Springer is a dry-as-dust accountant who decides he’s a writer because he sold a novel. Broke and in search of new material to write about he visits a monastery in the Florida backwoods. The abbot and sole occupant is a career soldier who’s forgotten more about doing nothing while getting paid than most men ever learn. He helps Springer skip out on his wife and life by dispatching him to be pastor of an all-Black church in Jacksonville. But preaching actually takes some work and Jax is in the throes of a civil rights conflict. Rev. Deuteronomy Springer is a long way from a saint and so is Merita, the very beautiful wife of one of his deacons.