This is the eighth book in P.J. Tracy's addictive and bestselling Monkeewrench series This one was more into the characters around the Monkeewrench crew and is a really good quick read that you wont want to put down.
It is very sad that part of writing team has died so I'm not sure if there will be another Monkeewrench.
I would highly recommend this which can be read as a standalone ( )

Another great addition to what may turn out to be one of my favourite series! Some grizzly murders have Monkeewrench and the MPD in another hunt for a card carrying serial killer. ( )

I really liked this one, perhaps it's my favorite of the series. It had a number of really likable characters in addition to the usual group. There was a good dose of the Monkeewrench group, who agreed to help a rural farmer, Walt, whose daughter went missing. He was an old-fashioned farmer who wasn't used to people like Monkeewrench, and it was interesting to see how they got to be close after a short time, even Annie with her inappropriate clothes, high heels, and disdain for country life in general. When a big storm was on the way, he worried that he might have to carry her from their motor home to the storm cellar, a feat that would take a lot out of an old man considering her ample size.

When detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth discover that their case of a serial killer seems to be connected to the area of Walt's farm (partly due to the presence of lion's fur!), they decide to go out and join Monkeewrench there. Of course, they have to run into a huge storm along the way, and a discovery of dead bodies. Nothing's easy for these guys. But they don't complain - much. Well, not much considering how they complain about most everything.

This was one book I had trouble putting down. I'll be reading the next one soon that I got from Net Galley.

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Marla Gustafson was on her way from Minneapolis to Cottonwood County to visit her dad on the family farm. She stopped along the road near the farm to help out someone stalled along the gravel road. Getting closer she saw a black bloody garbage bag in the road. She ran and was never seen again, just leaving a ring behind near a tree. Sheriff Jacob Emmet was out of clues after searching for Marla for 2 months. He called up to Minneapolis to hire the Monkeewrench crew to use their computers to help look for Marla. Meanwhile Homicide Detectives Magozzi and Rolseth were on the trail of what appeared to be a serial killer. Victims were found strangled in parks with a playing card tucked under their shirts. Leo Magozzi was also worried about Grace McBride, a member of the Monkeewrench crew, as she was expecting their child. The two separate cases in two areas of Minnesota were starting to link together: casinos, drug cartels, FBI, more vitims and a wild southern Minnesota tornado bring the cases together in a wild ride.

I have enjoyed Monkeewrench mysteries since book #1. This one caught my attention as I used to live in Cottonwood Co, Minnesota. However, I soon discovered that the author, although being a Minnesota native, placed the county near the Iowa border on I-35W, which is a good 125 miles southeast of the real Cottonwood Co. It shouldn't have bothered me, but I found this glaring error really irritating to me while reading. But, then folks who live in the Twin Cities area call everything beyond the Minneapolis metro area, "outstate Minnesota", not worthy of keeping the details straight. Nevertheless, it was a good read. ( )

There is a new serial killer terrorizing Minneapolis. His victims are brunettes who are running in parks. He leaves a playing card on his victims' bodies. Magozzi and Rolseth catch the case of the latest victim in Minneapolis. But he's also committing crimes in St. Paul.

Meanwhile, the Monkeewrench gang has decided to take a more personal case and look into the disappearance of a young woman from a small town in rural Minnesota. Strangely enough, these cases come together by way of drug cartels and long-past friendships and crimes.

I liked that Grace and Magozzi's relationship is getting closer now that Grace is nearly six months pregnant. I liked the Minnesota setting. I liked that some of the danger in the book come from Minnesota weather and summer tornadoes. ( )