Publisher's Weekly Review
At the start of the exciting fourth Monkeewrench thriller (after 2005's Dead Run) from Tracy, the pseudonym of a mother-daughter writing team, two of the series' staples-Minneapolis police detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth-are on hand for a snowman-building contest their department is sponsoring in a local park. The contest turns into a double murder investigation after the frozen bodies of two policemen turn up inside two of the snowmen. Meanwhile, computer expert and ace crime solver Grace MacBride, who has a loving relationship with Magozzi, and the rest of her high-powered Monkeewrench gang are called in for help when a rookie female sheriff in rural Dundas County runs across another murdered cop inside another snowman. Grace and company discover trouble on their Web searches through arcane chat rooms-and also find themselves in danger as the bizarre but believable plot unwinds. A bestseller in the U.K., Tracy could well break out in the U.S. with this entertaining effort. 12-city author tour. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Twin City cops team up with a small-town female sheriff to track down a killer who is turning corpses into snowmen in this fourth thriller from the mother-daughter duo (Dead Run, 2005). Grudgingly partaking in the annual department-sponsored kid's snow festival, Minneapolis detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth happen to be on hand for the shocking discovery of two young cops, dead, their bodies propped up and covered in snow to look like snowmen. The next day, a third, similarly attired body--this one a parole officer--is found in the nearby rural burg of Dundas, pointing toward a serial killer. It being her first day on the job, Dundas County's new sheriff, the sweet-faced former English teacher Iris Rikker, is clearly in over her head, so she looks to the big-city cops for guidance. They eye her skeptically, but the three form an alliance nonetheless. The murder trail splits in multiple directions, ranging from a jailed crime lord nicknamed "the Snowman" to newly released multiple felon (and wife-beater) Kurt Weinbeck. Weinbeck breaks parole and hides out during a winter storm in the drafty barn of the old farmhouse where the divorced Iris lives alone, but escapes before she and laconic Lieutenant Sampson can catch him. Meanwhile, Magozzi, who is conducting a touchingly tentative romance with Grace MacBride, the enigmatic head brain of the Monkeewrench crime-busting tech crew, gets the quirky geeks to search for their own clues on the Internet. Ultimately, it all leads to Bitterroot, a highly secured corporate compound that is revealed to be a safe house for abused women. What happens next points toward a 60-year history of women, alone, casting off the role of victim to look out for themselves, at any cost. An engaging puzzle with a vigilante twist, the story loses steam near the end as Magozzi and Rolseth realize that solving the case may not be the same thing as serving justice. Gripping and original set-up for the next Monkeewrench volume. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
On the eve of a big snowman-building charity benefit in Minneapolis, two cops are shot and buried in the park as snowmen. Then another snowman corpse is found in rural Dundas County. Detectives Magozzi and Rolseth travel to Dundas County looking for a killer and a motive, while the computer gang at Monkeewrench seek clues on the Internet. Incorporating their hallmark creativity and innovative plotting, the mother-and-daughter writing team of P.J. and Tracy Lambrecht have written another engaging series title (after Dead Run) populated by a great cast of characters. The authors live in Minnesota and California, respectively. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ 6/1/06.] (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
