Wendall Holland, the mayor of Wheatfield, MN, a dying small town of about 650, and his street-smart 17-year-old friend Skinner have a brilliant idea. If the Virgin Mary appears at the local Catholic Church, it will draw crowds and money to the area. The scheme works exquisitely until a tourist is shot by a sniper. After the second shooting, the mayor calls the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and Virgil Flowers is assigned the case. Virgil assumes he can easily apprehend the sniper, but that's not the case in a small community where everyone has a gun. Then a local resident is targeted and Virgil finds a body. This fast-paced novel never lets up, in violence, police investigation, or wisecracks from Virgil and his fellow officers. The suspense will draw in readers initially, but the well-developed characters, especially Holland and Skinner, along with the irreverent agents and officers, will keep readers hanging on for the dark humor and banter. VERDICT Sandford follows the nonstop action of Deep Freeze with another satisfying case for the likable Flowers. [See Prepub Alert, 4/23/18.]—Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

In little Pinion, MN, the hapless mayor and his friend hope to increase revenue by creating a shrine around a manufactured vision of the Virgin Mary. They expect swarming pilgrims but instead get a dead body—and the services of Sandford stalwart Virgil Flowers.