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Detective Flowers Works A Fast, Deadly Trail

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By BETTIE JOHNSON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 28, 2008

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

After the mutilated bodies of Vietnam War veterans keep appearing near war memorials, Det. Virgil Flowers - with 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. And a man who has the answers ambushes Flowers and escapes to an American Indian reservation where the detective has no jurisdiction. The assassins manage to stay leagues ahead of the agent.

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 Flower's trademark. He would rather fish than work and often sneaks away to cast a few lines. Flowers often does his best detecting on the water.

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. And he 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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