In Gunn's engaging sixth police procedural to feature Rutherford, Minn., police captain Jake Hines (after 2002's Seventh-Inning Stretch
), Jake is thrilled that smalltime hood Benny Niemeyer, implicated in the kidnapping and murder of IBM employee Shelley Gleason, appears to be headed for a long prison stretch. Benny is acquitted at his trial, however, and the Rutherford PD gets the blame for fouling up the case. Dogged and determined, Jake looks into the case again, trying to locate a missing witness and to figure out how the gun of a local philanthropist became the murder weapon. When Benny turns up dead in a skate-boarding park, Jake and his detectives are awash in questions and no answers. While Jake pieces together the last hours of Shelley and Benny by day, he finds escape from his grim profession in the arms of forensics queen Trudy Hanson at night. The two still commute to their rundown farmhouse, harvesting vegetables as barter for needed renovations. An appealing protagonist, a well-developed supporting cast and a thought-provoking plot add up to fine mystery entertainment. Agent, Jane Chelius. (Mar. 1)
