Holy Ghost

In bestseller Sandford’s wickedly enjoyable 11th outing for Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agent Virgil Flowers (after 2017’s Deep Freeze), Wardell Holland, the maverick mayor of Wheatfield (pop. 650), and his 17-year-old sidekick, John Jacob Skinner, decide the town needs an economic boost, so they contrive for the Virgin Mary to appear at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, with one of Skinner’s many sexual conquests, Jennie Fischer, in the Mary role. The Marian Apparition succeeds in bringing flocks of tourists to Wheatfield. Then sniper-like shootings that wound two citizens threaten the bonanza. Flowers’s subsequent investigation turns up suspects ranging from a few would-be Nazis to a farmer/gun range owner and Jennie’s porn-loving boyfriend. When the shootings turn deadly, Flowers gets help, which he badly needs as he comes to realize that he must outwit a clever killer who proves one of his maxims: “If it’s criminal, it’s either stupid or crazy.” Sandford’s trademark sly humor shines throughout. Agent: Esther Newberg, ICM. (Oct.)