Rough Country (Virgil Flowers, #3)

Rough Country (Virgil Flowers, #3)

John Sandford

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

Virgil Flowers has always been known for having a somewhat active, er, social life, but he's probably not going to be getting too many opportunities during his new case. While competing in a fishing tournament in northern Minnesota, he gets a call from Lucas Davenport to investigate a murder at a nearby resort where a woman has been shot while kayaking. The resort is for women only, a place to relax, get fit, recover from plastic surgery, commune with nature, and while it didn't start out to be a place mostly for those with Sapphic inclinations, that's pretty much what it is today. Which makes things more complicated for Virgil because, as he begins investigating, he finds connections between people at the resort and some local women, notably a talented country singer. The more he digs, the more he discovers arrows of suspicion that point in many directions, with many motives: jealousy, blackmail, greed, anger, and fear. Then he discovers that this is not the first murder, that there was a second, seemingly unrelated, the year before. And that there's about to be a third, definitely related. As to a fourth... well, Virgil better hope he can catch the killer before that happens. Because it could be his own. Librarian's note: as of 2021, there are 13 volumes in the author's Virgil Flowers series. The last was published in April 2021. It is part of the "Prey" series but Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers share the billing - "Ocean Prey."


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  • Breezie_Reads
    Mar 11, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    I love both this series and the Lucas Davenport series, although I will agree with Virgil that the whole "that fuckin' Flowers" thing is getting old. As is Lucas constantly telling Virgil that he "better not be pulling his boat" but then always ends up telling him to go fishing to think on the case anyway. It's supposed to be funny, I know, but it got old old and tiresome to read those exchanges really fast, especially since I'm reading this series in publication order and now that Virgil was introduced, he shows up in Lucas's novels as well so I can't even get a reprieve in those books.

    But other than that, I loved this one. It was yet again another riveting case and I did not want to put it down. I enjoyed reading more about Virgil's process when he solves cases, and his backstory. Although the humor is extremely outdated, but obviously this book was published in 2009 so I can't get too bent out of shape about it. It didn't subtract anything from the enjoyment of the book itself, I just didn't find any of the gay jokes funny. Never really have, but that's a personal thing.

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