BLOODY GENIUS by John Sandford

BLOODY GENIUS

by

John Sandford

            Bloody Genius is John Sandford’s latest novel in his Virgil Flowers series. When the investigation into the murder of wealthy, well-connected university professor Barthelemy Quill made no progress, the governor became involved. Calls were made, and Virgil Flowers, of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, was assigned to the case. So, Virgil teamed up with Maggie Trane, a sergeant with Minneapolis Homicide who was leading the Quill investigation. With two ex-wives (and an estranged wife number three), a feud with another academic department, disgruntled patients, colleagues and employees at his university lab and at the hospital, and an angry surviving daughter, there were no shortages of suspects. That is, until Flowers was assigned and did his thing.

            Virgil Flowers is a tall, thin man with longish blond hair who routinely wears jeans, t-shirts depicting various indie bands, and cowboy boots. His style – both in manner of dress and in method of operation – are very different than that of his good friend Lucas Davenport (who does make a cameo appearance in Bloody Genius).

            I have been a long time fan of Sandford’s Lucas Davenport series and Virgil Flowers series. While reading Bloody Genius, however, I realized that I am no longer such a Flowers fan. I do not know if my tastes have changed or if I do not care for the direction Sandford has taken his character. Although the introduction of a spouse and children can be difficult for an author to pull off, I think Sandford was successful with regard to Davenport. However, I do not like Frankie and am not looking forward to the birth of their twins.

            Nonetheless, Bloody Genius presents a pretty good mystery. The plot is complex and convoluted, and Sandford takes us step by step through the process Flowers used to solve the case. This is vintage Sandford, with typical Sandford humor, and Flowers does discover Quill’s killer.