Listen to the Lambs

After losing his savings in an economic crash, Lazarus Love III quits believing in the American dream and abandons his upper-middle-class lifestyle. This means giving up his BMW and cable television every room, plus bailing out on his wife and two children. Lazarus is now homeless, taking up residence under a highway overpass near downtown Atlanta. But he is not alone. An assorted group of society's discards is drawn to Lazarus and his simple lifestyle of sharing spiritual wealth. The small community is hungry, but not desperate, until Lazarus is accused of murdering a wealthy woman in her home where he was hired to dig a flowerbed. Black (The Coming; Twelve Gates to the City) offers commentary on African American family values as Lazarus's spiritual family plots ways to prove his innocence and bring their lost lamb home. But the deck is stacked against them, "A white woman dead, a black man, open-and-shut case."