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Overview
Minneapolis detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth are bored - ever since they solved the Monkeewrench case, the Twin Cities have been in a murder-free dry spell, as people no longer seem interested in killing one another. But with two brutal homicides taking place in one awful night, the crime drought ends - not with a trickle, but with an eventual torrent. Who would kill Morey Gilbert, a man without an enemy, a man who might as well have been a saint? His tiny, cranky little wife, Lily, is no help, and may even be a suspect; his estranged son, Jack, an infamous ambulance-chasing lawyer, has his own enemies; and his son-in-law, former cop Marty Pullman, is so depressed over his wife's death a year ago that he's ready to kill himself, but not Morey. The number of victims - all elderly - grows, and the city is fearful once again." The detectives' investigation threatens to uncover a series of horrendous secrets, some buried within the heart of the police department itself, blurring the lines between heroes and villains. Grace MacBride's cold-case-solving software may find the missing link - but at a terrible price.
Synopsis
Minneapolis detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth are bored-the Twin Cities have been in a murder-free dry spell. But when elderly Morey Gilbert is found dead, the crime drought ends. And the detectives are ready for some help-from Grace McBride and her offbeat crew at a little software company called Monkeewrench.
Publishers Weekly
The mother-daughter mystery writing team known as P.J. Tracy produces another winner with this follow-up to 2003's lively Monkeewrench. After several homicide-free months in their hometown of St. Paul, wisecracking police detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth are back in action when elderly-and much beloved-gardener Morey Gilbert is found face up near his greenhouse with a bullet hole in his head. At first, the prime murder suspects are family members: Gilbert's estranged son, Jack, a slick personal injury lawyer, and Gilbert's dry-eyed widow, Lily, who discovered the corpse-and moved it before the police arrived. When three more slayings follow, Magozzi and Rolseth discern disturbing common threads: each of the victims is over 80 and-except for Arlen Fisher, shot in the arm and dragged onto the train tracks to face his doom-Jewish survivors of Nazi concentration camps. Critical clues, including a gun traced to murders around the globe, surface as straitlaced detectives Aaron Langer and Johnny McLaren join the more offbeat Magozzi and Rolseth on the case. Tracy serves up punchy prose and quirky characters, from a sartorially challenged police chief to a plump, shrewd crime tech named Grimm. Romance for bachelor Magozzi arrives in the form of Grace MacBride, a comely computer whiz whose sophisticated software program, FLEE, has helped crack countless cases. The courtship moves slowly despite undeniable sparks; MacBride is still haunted by Monkeewrench-the deadly case that first brought the two together and continues to hover like a cloud of doom. With her stash of high-tech research tools, including special face recognition software, MacBride delivers revelations about both victims and perpetrator, leading Magozzi and Rolseth toward the case's spine-chilling resolution. With generous doses of humor and suspense, this sharp, satisfying thriller will rivet readers from the start. Agent, Ellen Geiger. Author tour. (May 3) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble ReviewHaving made a dazzling debut in 2003 with the crime thriller Monkeewrench, the mother-daughter writing team of P. J. Tracy follow up with another complex, compelling tale featuring an exciting blend of high-tech criminal profiling and old-fashioned dedicated police investigation.
Spring has come to Minneapolis, bringing with it an unseasonable heat wave…and a chilling end to the longest murder-free stretch the local homicide detectives have seen in years. Two old men died the same night. One was tied to train tracks and left to die. The other was shot in the head beside a greenhouse at the nursery he owned, his body left out in rain that washed the crime scene clean. Other than the fact that they lived in the same neighborhood, the victims had little in common. The first victim was an overweight watch repairman -- an apparent nobody whose elaborately engineered death seems to be the most remarkable thing about him. The second victim was not only well known; the elderly concentration camp survivor turned nursery owner seems to have been loved and admired by everyone -- except his only surviving child, a personal-injury attorney with a sleazy reputation. With such different means and styles of death, the police hesitate to connect the crimes. But both are undeniably high-profile cases that need to be closed quickly and cleanly, especially after two more elderly victims are added to the neighborhood death toll.
As detectives struggle to make sense of elusive and contradictory evidence, input from the computerized detective program that's the latest brainchild of the innovative software design company known as Monkeewrench -- and unexpected intelligence from Interpol -- expand their investigations in some remarkable directions…and the price of justice soars to unexpected heights. Sue Stone