Carter Wrenn, the veteran Republican strategist, has written a new murder mystery.

And no it doesn't involve politics.

Wrenn has self-published a murder mystery involving a fictional small-town North Carolina lawyer — a former district attorney — trying to solve a series of grisly murders, Rob Christensen reports.

The mystery, called "Spirits of the Air," is not only a whodunit but it also explores the meaning of evil, Wrenn said.

"I tried to write a murder mystery with a character who is particularly evil and explore that whole topic," Wrenn said.

The title is from St. Paul's warning to the church at Ephesus (beware "the prince of power of the air.")

The mystery is available online through Lulu.com, a self-publishing firm.

Wrenn is best known as the Raleigh-based strategist with the now defunct political action committee, the National Congressional Club, that helped elect several conservatives to the Senate, most notably Jesse Helms.

Wrenn has also written a biography of Confederate general Stonewall Jackson. He is also revising a historical novel about Helms and the Congressional Club.