The Mystery Starts Here

After reading the last Lucas Davenport “Prey” novel by John Sanford, I swore I’d never read another of his books. What can I say? I’m weak – and desperate. There just isn’t that much good reading out there, so when I saw “Rough County” I decided to take a chance. It’s good!

I believe Sanford made the right decision when he spun Virgil Flowers off from the crew in the Davenport books. Lucas Davenport has become domesticated and, well, boring. Virgil, on the other hand, is young,  smart, surfer-boy cute and a good cop. He drives a truck with his aluminum boat hooked onto the back, just in case he decides to go fishing, and frequently misplaces his gun. He’s a babe-magnate which makes this story really fun. It’s about a murder that occurs at an all woman lodge in northern Minnesota, and many of the woman are Lesbians.

Poor Virgil is on vacation out fishing with his buddy, Johnson Johnson (really!) when Davenport calls and asks him to cut his vacation short to investigate a murder at Eagle’s Nest.  A woman was out paddling around the lake and someone shot her in the head. Virgil starts investigating and runs into more than one suspect.  The dead woman, Erica,  had a brief dalliance with Wendy, the lead singer in an all girl band. Berni, aka Raven, Wendy’s main girlfriend wasn’t too happy to hear that bit of news. Virgil puts her on the list of suspects. Then there’s Ruth, Erica’s life partner. Did she know about the hanky-panky at the lodge? The list of suspects grows long and interesting.

The beginning of the book is fast-paced and very funny. Sanford has a knack for creating colorful, but believable characters. By the middle, I knew who the killer was and was pretty sure of the big plot twist. Toward the end, the pace slowed down – way down until by page 350, I was skimming. Too much detail, obvious filler. I know the book would have been a better, tighter book with fewer pages. I do have one other picky. One of the key characters was Wendy’s father who’s name is Slibe. Now, I have no clue how to pronounce this name – one word SLIBE  or two SLI-BE? Therefore, every time I came upon this name, and it was frequent, I stopped to try and figure out the pronunciation! As an author you do NOT want to do that because every time you stop a reader, there’s a possibility he/she won’t start again!

All in all, I enjoyed the book partly because I grew up in Minnesota and am a little familiar with the territory and characters. “Rough Country” is a fast read in spite of its length and I do recommend it.

Looking for a an offbeat, fun book? Try, MIND ECHOES, it’s the story of a female house call veterinarian who communicates with animals telepathically to help a police detective solve crimes. Order it in January 2010 from www.whiskeycreekpress.com

When a young woman goes missing from Ocean Beach, New Jersey during a summer heat wave, everyone in town is naturally concerned and they all go out to try and find her. After three days, she shows up, dirty, dehydrated but unharmed. She tells police that the kidnapper never spoke, but he came back several times to dance with her.  Because of her background of anorexia and cutting, the police chief and even the girl’s parents start to wonder if perhaps the whole kidnapping wasn’t made up. Leslie, the victim had just been dumped by her boyfriend, Steve. Police were at first suspicious of him because he never bothered to look for his ex-girlfriend.

Diane Mayfield, a correspondent for KEY news in New York, was all set to take her two kids on a long-anticipated vacation to the Grand Canyon. Because she’s been working on a series about women who fake kidnapping, her boss demands that she go to the Jersey Shore and follow the case.  Diane is not happy nor are her teenage children, but as the sole support of the family, she goes. When she talks to Leslie, she, too, believe the young woman lied.

Just when the police are about to arrest Leslie for making a false kidnapping report, another young woman, goes missing, and she too was dating Steve. Needless to say, he becomes the prime suspect. While Leslie is sorry another woman was kidnapped, she feels vindicated and tells everyone. The second victim also shows up after three days but sadly she’s dead.

The story is narrated from a variety of viewpoints in short, choppy chapters that keep the reader engaged. There were plenty of suspects, from the doctor who was using dubious methods to treat both girls, to the damage Iraq war vet who was dumped by his fiancee and never recovered, to the local real estate agent who’s own daughter took her life while in treatment with the same doctor. I read mysteries almost exclusively and usually can guess whodunit fairly easily. However, “Dancing in the Dark” kept me guessing until the surprising, twist ending! This is an exciting fast read I’m sure you’ll enjoy

Still looking for a good mystery? Pick up a copy of Stormy Love or The Worst Evil available at www.whiskeycreekpress or order them at Borders. Want something lighter? Try Call Sign: Love or The Colors of Death, www.writwordsinc.com.