Fiction review: Mysteries

The marriage between small towns and big-box stores sometimes gets off to a rocky start. But rarely does the conflict include bombings.

But that's what faces crack agent Virgil Flowers of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in "Shock Wave" (400 pages, Putnam, $27.95), the fifth entry in John Sandford's series featuring Flowers, an amiable fellow who's both religious and a cheerful angler, of fish and women.

This time out, Flowers is sent to Butternut Falls, Minn., where retail giant PyeMart has begun construction on a superstore. But PyeMart has problems. First, a bomb intended for founder Willard Pye and the board of directors goes off in the corporation's Michigan headquarters, missing its target but killing a secretary. When a second blast hits the Butternut Falls site and kills the construction superintendent, the BCA dispatches Flowers to the river town. There, as more explosions strike, he discovers that allegations are flying that PyeMart bribed town officials and that small-business owners and environmentalists are vehemently opposed to the superstore. But are any disturbed enough to resort to murder?

Sandford invests his considerable skills in the Flowers novels — offshoots of his Lucas Davenport series — and "Shock Wave" exhibits his well-honed powers: a credible whodunit with surprising twists, a charming and intuitive cop and sharp prose tempered with wicked wit. And as he strips the veneer of civility off a small town's dark side, he puts the worst — and the best — of humanity on display.

With America's foreign-policy interests focused primarily on the Middle East and terrorism, the Cold War seems a quaint remnant of the past.

But it comes alive in "The Sauvignon Secret" (272 pages, Scribner, $24), Virginia author Ellen Crosby's sixth mystery featuring Lucie Montgomery, the owner of Montgomery Estate Vineyards near the border of Fauquier and Loudoun counties.

This time out, Lucie finds the body of disagreeable wine merchant Paul Noble, an apparent suicide by hanging. But Lucie soon learns of Paul's membership on a late-'60s-early-'70s research team investigating biological warfare and possible antidotes and an experiment that went lethally wrong. Asked by an acquaintance to look into matters from the past, Lucie, accompanied by her French grandfather, travels to California's wine country, where Lucie connects with her former winemaker, Quinn Santori. Their romance had gone wrong and, as Quinn helps Lucie investigate, sparks fly. Back in Virginia, Lucie's probing leads her to a scary discovery.

Crosby again imbues her work with a killer plot (and a surprising conclusion), agreeable characters, polished prose and colorful detail about the still-rural areas of Northern Virginia. Blended, they provide a superior yield.

For a series writer to break the bounds of chronology requires courage, and Barbara Cleverly is not afraid to take that bold step in "The Blood Royal" (391 pages, SohoConstable, $25), the ninth installment in her novels featuring Commander Joe Sandilands of Scotland Yard.

Her first four mysteries were set in India, where Joe, a former soldier as well as a cop, had been dispatched. The next four saw the likable hero return to England and chronicled cases there and in France. But "The Blood Royal" rewinds the clock to just after he has come back to Scotland Yard in the hot summer of 1922. A prominent politician, Adm. Oliver Dedham, has been shot to death on his doorstep, and initial signs point to Irish extremists. But a nest of aristocratic Russian émigrés have taken up residence in London, and Joe and his colleagues must travel both avenues, and others, in their investigation.

One of those co-workers is Constable Lily Wentworth, whom Joe has elevated from her street beat after a chance encounter. Lily is brash, bright and intuitive, and her quick action not only foils an attempt to kill the Prince of Wales but also helps break the case in startling ways.

Cleverly's intrigues absorb the reader's mind, and her spare but elegant prose serves her well. Joe, as always, is the epitome of determination, intelligence and charm, and Lily is a character the reader will want to see again in this spellbinding series.

Some families seem to attract money, or friends, or trouble. But Elizabeth Parker's family is a murder magnet, and Tracy Kiely again succeeds in making homicide hilarious in "Murder Most Persuasive" (304 pages, Minotaur Books, $24.99), the entry in her series featuring Elizabeth, a fact-checker for a Washington newspaper.

Elizabeth's latest adventure centers on the family of her great-uncle Martin Reynolds, who has just died — but not before selling his country house in St. Michaels, Md. The new owners have contracted for work on the pool, below which is found the body of Michael Barrow, a former employee of Martin's who disappeared eight years ago, allegedly with $1 million he had embezzled from his boss.

But now that it's apparent he was murdered, suspicion falls on Martin's daughters: Reggie, who called off her wedding to Michael; Frances, the livelihood of whose husband, Scott, Michael had threatened; and Ann, whom Michael had attacked. Leaping once more into the breach, Elizabeth susses out the real killer.

With a smart storyline, engaging characters, a bounty of humor and Austen references, "Murder Most Persuasive" will appeal to whodunit fans, even if they don't know Jane Austen from Jane's Addiction.

In academia, the molding of young minds is of top importance, debates are conducted with civility and insight, and professors work cooperatively and pleasantly with one another. Or not. In "The Square Root of Murder" (292 pages, Berkley Prime Crime, $7.99), the first in Ada Madison's projected series, death is wearing the academic robes.

Sophie Knowles, an associate professor of mathematics, embodies the best of the profession. But she's human, and she's not above disliking some of her colleagues.

Trouble is, one of them, Keith Appleton, an associate professor of chemistry, is found poisoned in his office while a party was being held on Sophie's floor of the office building. And Keith was the thesis adviser to her assistant, Rachel Wheeler, and had been giving Rachel a hard time. When marked-up pages from a draft are found scattered in Keith's office, Rachel is the cops' prime suspect.

A clever puzzle, "The Square Root of Murder" is well-plotted, and the reader will want to see more of Sophie. Madison has found the right equation for success in this entertaining series debut.