Virgil
Flowers, ace investigator for the Minnesota
Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) is called from vacation to
Trippton, Minnesota, a small river town south of Minneapolis. An attractive middle-aged woman who owned the
local bank has been murdered and her body has been deposited in the frozen
Mississippi River. She had hosted a high
school class reunion organizational meeting the night before so several of her
former classmates as well as her estranged husband and his boyfriend are prime
suspects. Virgil’s inquiries send him
through the private and business life of the deceased. As in all Sandford novels, the killer is
revealed to the reader and we see the criminal's motivation and efforts to cover up the
crime well before Virgil does. The
killer’s effort to cover up includes the murder of a second woman and deadly warnings
directed at Virgil.
To complicate Virgil’s investigation, his boss asks him to casually
attend to another matter in Trippton, this one of interest to the governor. Apparently a small group of women in Trippton
are altering Barbie dolls by installing erotic noises and selling them
online. The Mattel Corporation, a
political supporter of the governor and maker of Barbie dolls wants this to
stop immediately. Virgil is ordered to
assist a private detective already in Trippton to find the doll manipulators. Virgil soon learns these women are desperate
for the extra income and are protective of their co-conspirators. While Virgil clearly sympathizes with the
women, he is duty bound to stop their operation.
Flowers’ laid back investigative style is all wrong according
to every crime show on TV. He is open
with information which tends to get back to the suspect but somehow always
works out in Flowers’ favor… thus the universal response from those who know he’s
coming, ‘That f…ing Flowers.’ Sandford’s
protagonist is unorthodox but likable and effective, the perfect combination for
a good investigator and the perfect character for a good read.
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