Deep Freeze - John Sandford

I really enjoy John Sandford's Lucas Davenport series. Virgil Flowers was a supporting character in that series, but is now the lead in his own set of books. I really like Lucas, but have to say that 'that f****** Flowers' is my fave! The 10th (and latest) Flowers book is Deep Freeze.

Virgil is happily enjoying some time off when he's called back in and sent to Trippton, Minnesota - remember that murderous school board? Well, there's another dead body in town - this one's frozen. And the suspects are many - everything points to one of the Trippton graduating class of twenty years ago. Turns out they've got a reunion planned....Now, we the reader know who the culprit is. But the body isn't where he left it. So the killer is just as confused. Knowing what we believe to be the whodunit in no way detracts from being on the case with Virgil. My interest was held right through to the end. And there's one more thing his superiors want him to look into while he's in Trippton. Some locals are adding some, well, 'inappropriate' sound chips to Barbie dolls. Mattel would like them to 'cease and desist.'

Oh, Sandford's plotting is always great. In Virgil's cases, nothing is straight forward or 'normal'. And that's a huge part of the appeal of this series. But the real draw is of course Virgil. With his blond surfer boy looks, his laconic, down homey charm, his sense of humour and ability to fit right in with the locals, Virgil is not what you would expect of an Minnesota BCA Agent. The situations and dialogue assigns to Virgil are laugh out loud funny. One of the best supporting characters takes a larger role this time out. Johnson Johnson (nope, that's not a typo, that's his name) lives in the Trippton area, so he adds himself to the investigation. The banter between these two is great fun.

Virgil's personal life is also a step left of center. Sandford has moved things along in each new entry in the series. There's a fairly large development in Deep Freeze - I will be curious to see what the next book brings. Deep Freeze is another great entry in this entertaining series. Read an excerpt of Deep Freeze.