Small Town Saturday Night

Deep Freeze (A Virgil Flowers Novel) – John Sandford - (G P Putnam)

There’s just something different about a small town…quirky, parochial, and vindictive. While a number of writers do a good job of capturing that small town ethos, for my small town guy money, no one does it better than John Sandford, in his backwoods Minnesota books featuring Virgil Flowers as he pursues bad guys in his guise of investigator for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Sandford’s latest Flower’s outing, Deep Freeze perfectly captures that small town infighting based on the socio-economic hierarchy that got it’s genesis way back in high school. So it’s perfect that the backdrop for the murder Virgil is tasked to solve is a planning meeting for a 20^th high school reunion.

The cast of characters includes the haves and the have nots or the in crowd and the outsiders, but Sandford never stops there; he mixes in a parade of misfits that includes; the victim’s sexually confused ex-husband, an S&M sex “therapist” with a criminal record who services a handful of the local ladies and an odd assortment of drunks and bowlers who aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive.

Add to the mix a passel of folks just trying to get by who are customizing Barbie dolls by adding features Mattel never intended and are in the crosshairs of a fish out of water private investigator from Los Angeles in a rental Prius and you’ve got makings of clever whodunit John Sandford style. After years of reading my way through his Prey series of books, I find the Virgil Flowers books to be a perfect break and easy, fun to read series. 

The Perfect Escape

Escape Clause (A Virgil Flowers Novel) – John Sandford (G P Putnam)

I became a John Sandford fan through the Prey series, featuring the character Lucas Davenport. Sandford is a master craftsman at weaving intricate stories chock full of twists and turns. As the Davenport stories progressed well into double digits I have to admit that I started to grow weary with the series. It took a while, but I find myself slowly warming to Sanford’s other mainstay character, Virgil Flowers.

With the latest entry in the Flowers series, Escape Clause, it struck why have evolved to liking this series so much; Flowers is a character who is the equivalent of a comfortable, well-worn, shoe. He is a laid back, easy going kind of guy who takes care of business. The light turned on for when I realized the similarity between Flowers and James Lee Burke’s, Dave Robicheaux.

In Escape Clause Flowers answers the call and is on case of trying to track down the folks who broke into the zoo and made off with a pair of rare tigers. Sandford lace’s the plot with a never ending parade of oddball characters ranging from animal rights activists and natural medicine practitioners to thugs imported from Armenia through California. I could see this one easily transplanted from the wilds of Minnesota to the below sea-level wilds of New Orleans.

Sandford always manages to keep things interesting by dabbling in the quirky and lacing just the right amounts of humor and plot twists. This one is Sandford and Flowers at their entertaining best. 

There’s Something Missing, Doncha Know

Storm Front (A Virgil Flowers Novel) – John Sandford (Putnam Publishing)

Full disclosure upfront; while I am a fan of John Sandford’s, Lucas Davenport series of Prey novels, up to this point I have not read any of his other characters, the technologist/artist Kidd and fellow police investigator Virgil Flowers.

While both Kidd and Flowers have crossed paths with Davenport, Storm Front  is my first foray into a Flowers book. All of Sandford’s characters have a certain wisecracking, whatever it takes attitude that is anchored by a certain Midwestern sturdiness. Flowers is certainly no exception. The story begins at the site of an archeological dig in Israel with an ailing Minnesota minister/college professor making off with what could be a game changing artifact.

Sandford laces the story with the usual band of colorful characters that ooze a certain outdoorsy, down home quirkiness. The hunt is on to try to track down not only the felonious Reverend, but to recover the artifact that could shake the foundations of world religions if it turns out to be legitimate. While I was starting to think that this could end being Sandford’s stab at Minnesota Davinci Code, he avoids the cliché by mixing things up with a few hapless, mis-adventurers trying to track down the ancient stone.

While the storyline continues to move at a leisurely pace, at points it begins to spin it’s wheels, losing traction as it continues to turn and turn in smaller circles.  While it takes some unexpected turns along the way, in the end Storm Front sputters and seems to be missing the same punch as the Davenport, Prey books. Not sure if it’s just a difference in series or if Sandford’s acknowledgement in interviews that he would be utilizing other writers to craft storylines so he could generate more books, that contributed to the shortfall.