2 very different detectives in 2 smoking hot mysteries
Every six months like clockwork John Sandford publishes a new novel.
He alternates between releasing another book in his blockbuster “Prey” series and putting out the latest in a series that is a spin-off of the “Prey” books. This other series features Virgil Flowers, an agent for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
The “Prey” books remain dependably dark. The Flowers stories are a lot lighter. They involve homicide investigations, but Virgil has a sense of humorthat makes a huge difference.
In the latest, “Holy Ghost,” Virgil heads to Wheatfield, Minn., to inquire into some shootings that have rattled the tiny town.
Wheatfieldhaduntil recently been just another fading rural burg.
Then a miracle happened; a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary took place there.
Now tour buses are depositing flocks of pilgrims, the local economy is surging. An unknown assailant has brought terror to the community by firing a high-powered rifle from some unknown location. The victims of the gunfire have been tourists, the violence represents a threat to the thriving tourism industry that has sprung up.
Virgil has puzzles to solve. As he looks into who might be shooting people, he realizes many local residents possess guns. If he can figure out where the gunshots originated from, thatshouldhelp.Theviolence is getting worse. This is a clever and entertaining mystery.
A few years ago I interviewed Sandford. I asked him for reading suggestions. He told me that he loved a debut novel with the title of “I.Q.” written by Joe Ide. I loved it, too. Ide recently published “Wrecked,” the third installment in his series that features a ghetto sleuth named I.Q.
These books are set in South Central Los Angeles. I.Q. is a young man with a troubled past. In the first book, his older brother was killed in a hit-and-run accident. He had been I.Q.’s mentor and only close relative. I.Q. ( short for Isaiah Quintabe) fell into a depression and he and his buddy Dodson embarked on a life of crime; burglaries mostly.
The author is a devotee of Sherlock Holmes and these books are a loving tribute to that character. Dodson (rhymes with Watson) provides comedic moments. He’s a former drug dealer who has finally settled down. He wants I.Q. to get serious about becoming a private investigator.
They form a partnership. I.Q. was accepting barter payments — Dodson is determined to collect cash instead. As the book opens, some former American prison guards who served at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq are brutally torturing aman.
These torturers are still employed by their former boss at Abu Ghraib, a rogue former CIA operative who now runs a global Blackwater-style mercenary business. Someone has photos from Abu Ghraib and they are using them to try to blackmail the former CIA guy. Our P.I. partners get drawn into the most action-packed story yet. I.Q. is generating huge buzz. These stories might become the inspiration for aTVseries.