Fifth Virgil Flowers book. In which the plans to build a new superstore in a small town are threatened by a bombing campaign which claims several lives. Virgil is brought in to investigate: the amount of opposition to the new store means that there is no shortage of suspects, but how can Virgil narrow the field?

This was a bit of a disappointment, but I think that is largely (completely?) down to the reader, who I thought didn't "get" Flowers at all. In my mind, Virgil is associated with adjectives such as laconic and laid back. But Conger makes him sound dumb and gormless. E.g. you might have Virgil saying "Really?", which I think needs an ironic tone; Conger makes him sound like an excited schoolchild.

In fact I think the tone of the Flowers books is generally understated, and this was just not captured by the reader. And because of this, my attention was more drawn to the plot, which felt a little bit weak: Virgil didn't seem to do a lot of investigation here; the main "plan" was to ask people in the town to nominate their favourite suspect, and concentrate on those who got the most votes.

I think really I need to re-read this one (not listen to the audiobook).

Completed : 27-Mar-2012 (audiobook, read by Eric Conger)