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Follow Flowers To Veterans' Killers

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By BETTIE JOHNSON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 14, 2008

"Heat Lightning," by John Sanford (Putnam's Sons, $26.95)

After the mutilated bodies of Vietnam War veterans keep appearing near war memorials, Detective Virgil Flowers of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is assigned to the case. The investigator finds it easy to connect the crimes to the same killer because each victim is shot twice in the head and has a lemon stuffed in his mouth.

Still, it is a tough case to crack. None of the surviving war veterans will talk about possible motive for the crimes or the next possible victim.

A man who has the answers ambushes Flowers and escapes to an American Indian reservation where the detective has no jurisdiction. The killers manage to stay leagues ahead of the detective.

Flowers is a 30-something, thrice-divorced cop who wears T-shirts of obscure rock bands. His long blond hair and flowered hippie shirts are his trademark. He would rather fish than work and often sneaks away to cast a few lines - where he often does his best thinking and detecting.

Flowers is also a chick magnet, which often leads to complications. Although divorced, it is not unusual for a former wife to resume marital relations. He also has no scruples against getting involved with a suspect's daughter.

The investigation leads Flowers to a prominent university professor who is well-known as an anti-war activist and his half-Vietnamese daughter, Mai. The clues lead back to the Vietnam War and the murder of a family. Flowers races to solve the case before many more veterans are found dead.

The plot moves fast, the dialogue is scintillating, and with a Sanford novel, it is always an enjoyable read.

Bettie Johnson is a freelance writer living in Brooksville.

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