"Bad Blood"

"Bad Blood" is the 4th novel in John Sandford's Virgil Flowers series.  Flowers is an investigator for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (or BCA) and in this newest novel he has been specifically requested by Sheriff Lee Coakley of Warren County.  Lee is a newly elected Sheriff with two accidental deaths on her hands -- or were they?

The first death occurred at a grain elevator where Jacob Flood was dumping a load of soybeans and apparently slipped, fell, and died.  What initially looked like an accident is found to be murder by the coroner and the only suspect is a teenage boy, Bob Tripp, a local high school jock who should have been away playing freshman college football but an injury has delayed his start for a year so he's been working at the elevator and this day he was working alone.

While Tripp is in jail, he commits suicide by hanging himself but only one deputy, Crocker, was on duty at the time and that deputy was a friend and fellow church-goer of Jacob Flood.  Since Lee won a recent election over Crocker, she believes it would be best to bring in an outside investigator to be sure it was a suicide.

Flowers' boss, Lucas Davenport, agrees to the assignment so the next step is for Coakley and Flowers to interview Crocker at his home.  When they arrive at his rural home, he has apparently committed suicide by shooting himself but again there are inconsistencies. 

As they continue their investigation, they uncover the death of a teenage girl the year before across the state line in Iowa who was a member of the same church as Flood and Crocker.  She was found naked in a cemetary and had recently had sex with several men.  It turns out she was also a friend of Tripp's who she met when she worked at a local fast food place.

The investigation is slightly hampered by the secrecy of the church itself and the fact that all the children are homeschooled.  They keep pretty much to themselves and those who are not part of their church know very little about this group of farmers whose families emigrated to the area from Germany several generations ago.

Flowers begins to suspect there is underage sexual activity within the church -- young girls with much older men -- and uncovering this fact makes him wonder if the church and its sexual activity is at the crux of these deaths.  He needs to find a way to unmask the church activities and protect the children if they are indeed being abused.

The story uncovers just like a methodical investigation and Flowers and Coakley's instincts work well together.  Experienced officers working with them also offer insights that aid the investigation to lead it to a successful but bloody conclusion.  Along the way Flowers and Coakley develop a friendship and romantic relationship -- but not a relationship they expect to last -- just one of convenience at the time.  Both are divorced and Coakley has three sons at home so she's not looking for anything permanent but seeking confirmation that she is an attractive, desirable woman outside her duties as a sheriff.

I love Sandford's books and look forward to reading the next Virgil Flowers mystery.  pazt