Under the Cover

Holy Ghost
by John Sandford
    The fictitious town of Wheatfield, MN, is home to under 700 people.  Nothing ever happened there and nothing ever would until the maverick mayor and his 17-year-old sidekick decide the town needs an economic boost. What can go wrong when they fabricate the appearance of the Virgin Mary at St. Mary’s Catholic Church? The apparition does succeed in bringing tourists to Wheatfield, but it also brings a sniper.
    When the sniper wounds a second victim, the authorities bring in Virgil Flowers of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Flowers is a colorful character with longish blonde hair, and he looks like he should be surfing rather than an agent for the Minnesota bureau.              Flowers loves fishing and is noted for pulling his boat with him during investigations just in case he has some down time. He also falls in love easily and has three ex-wives to make the point.  
    Flowers has not been in Wheatfield long when the sniper makes another appearance and a third victim is unfortunately killed. Flowers has his work cut out for him investigating a few would-be Nazis, a gun range owner and a porn-loving boyfriend.          
    As his investigation begins, he finds he has no obvious suspect, no motive, no forensic evidence and not even a good place in town to get lunch. When looking for clues about the likely weapon, he finds the rotting corpse of the gun range owner but cannot locate the range owner’s .223 rifle.  
    Tag along with Flowers as he meets and greets the characters of Wheatfield, finds out who is behind the miraculous Virgin Mary appearance, is shot with an arrow, eats the world’s worst pancake and solves the sniper crimes by following a money trail.  
    This is the 11th Virgil Flowers’ novel and if you enjoyed Holy Ghost, catch up on Flowers’ other cases and his colorful lifestyle by reading the rest of the series. Flowers may have grown up with a Lutheran pastor for a father, but his life does not follow the straight and narrow.  
    Sandford’s trademark sly humor shines throughout and Flowers’ cases, while linked to amusing setups, do follow through with authentic detection.  
    The library has the fiction book in both regular and large print. The book can also be found as an eBook and an audiobook on Libby/Overdrive (South Dakota Titles to Go).  
 

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