Rough Country (Virgil Flowers Series #3) by John Sandford

From Barnes & Noble

It starts with a phone call. Lucas Davenport wants Virgil Flowers to investigate a murder at an upstate Minnesota resort/spa that caters exclusively to women. Happy to comply, Virgil arrives on the scene and quickly uncovers a sticky tangle of interconnections between the victim, the guests, the staff, the townspeople, including several attractive notables. While Flowers is still puzzling over what seems to be an ever-growing suspect list, he learns that this restful rural place seems to attract homicides and that at least some of them seem to be the work of the same diabolical artist….

From the Publisher

It's a joy to announce that John Sandford is still doing everything right," wrote the Cleveland Plain Dealer about the second adventure of Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigator Virgil Flowers. "Virgil acts like the best series protagonists-becoming someone we just enjoy spending time with."

Virgil's always been known for having a somewhat active, er, social life, but he's probably not going to be getting too many opportunities for that during his new case. While competing in a fishing tournament in a remote area of northern Minnesota, he gets a call from Lucas Davenport to investigate a murder at a nearby resort, where a woman has been shot while kayaking. The resort is for women only, a place to relax, get fit, recover from plastic surgery, commune with nature, and while it didn't start out to be a place mostly for those with Sapphic inclinations, that's pretty much what it is today.

Which makes things all the more complicated for Virgil, because as he begins investigating, he finds a web of connections between the people at the resort, the victim, and some local women, notably a talented country singer. The more he digs, the more he discovers the arrows of suspicion that point in many directions, encompassing a multitude of motivations: jealousy, blackmail, greed, anger, fear. Then he finds that this is not the first murder, that there was a second, seemingly unrelated one, the year before. And that there's about to be a third, definitely related one, any time now. And as for the fourth . . . well, Virgil better hope he can catch the killer before that happens. Because it could be his own.

Rich with the brilliant plotting and compulsivelyreadable prose that are his hallmarks, Rough Country is another immensely satisfying tale by one of our very best suspense writers.

Publishers Weekly

Near the start of bestseller Sandford's winning third thriller to feature Virgil Flowers of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (after Heat Lightning), Virgil gets a call while muskie fishing from his boss, Lucas Davenport (the hero of Sandford's long-running Prey series). Lucas orders Virgil to look into the shooting death of Erica McDill, an ad agency exec from Minneapolis and a big supporter of the Democratic Party, who was staying at the Eagle Nest Lodge in nearby Grand Rapids. A talk with lodge owner Margery Stanhope turns up unusual details: Margery's clientele is mostly lesbian; an all-female rock band is involved; guests who are so inclined can buy young men for an evening's pleasure; and financial reasons could explain the murder. It's a complicated case, but Virgil is up to the task, and, as always, he's funny, smart and tough when he needs to be—and catnip to the ladies. 500,000 first printing. (Oct.)

Kirkus Reviews

Virgil Flowers (Heat Lightning, 2008, etc.) emerges from the long shadow of mentor Lucas Davenport to solve the murder of an advertising executive that features some long shadows of its own. Someone had the prowess to kill Erica McDill with a single head shot from 80 yards away as she paddled her canoe outside Eagle Nest Lodge. The footprint that cops found near a shell casing is from an upscale women's brand shoe, but that doesn't do much to narrow the list of suspects: Eagle Nest's clientele is exclusively female. Hauled in from a musky-fishing tournament by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Virgil quickly finds himself up to his armpits in women who prefer the company of other women. Even Eagle Nest accountant Zoe Tull has been smitten by Wendy Ashbach, the country singer who's fronting an all-girl band at the Wild Goose, where she's cast a spell over every female in the house. Maybe that's why Zoe, who's helpful enough to introduce Virgil to her straight (and sex-starved) sister Signy, somehow forgets to mention the strangling of a guest from Iowa two years ago, shortly after she, like McDill, took a businesslike interest in Wendy's band. No matter. However distracted he is by pursuing Sig, repeatedly crossing Zoe off his list of suspects and then penciling her back on, and questioning everyone else in northern Minnesota, Virgil does enough honest detective work to justify focusing his investigation first on the band, then on Wendy's creepy father Slibe and even creepier brother Slibe Jr. Readers may at first share the verdict of Virgil's fishing buddy-"I thought it would be interesting, but it's just nasty"-but following the trail to McDill's killer proves as interesting ashooking and landing a 40-pound musky.

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