[Lucas Davenport 11] • Easy Prey

Lucas Davenport investigates an unsettling series of murders in this classic novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series—and this one is John Sandford “at the top of his game” (New York Post)…  In

life she was a high-profile model. In death she is the focus of a media

firestorm that’s demanding action from Lucas Davenport. One of his own

men is a suspect in her murder. But when a series of bizarre, seemingly

unrelated slayings rock the city, Davenport suspects a connection that

runs deeper than anyone had imagined—one that leads to an ingenious

killer more ruthless than anyone had feared… FEATURING A NEW INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHOR

 **

Amazon.com Review

Penzler Pick, June 2000: Easy Prey is the 11th mystery to feature Lucas Davenport, who began his career back in Rules of Prey as a maverick homicide detective reminiscent of "Dirty Harry" Callahan. He did things his way and was often at odds with his superiors in the Minneapolis Police Department. Since those early days, Davenport has mellowed a little, and his background as a computer game-designing, Porsche-driving womanizer has been somewhat reduced. Possibly age has become a factor, or it may be the fact that Davenport has been deputy chief since the sixth book in the series, Night Prey. The character may have changed, but the writing has remained consistently taut: the bad guys creepy, the mysteries suspenseful.

In this newest episode, Davenport is called to a house after an A-list party has taken place there. Alie'e Maison, a top model, has been found strangled, and evidence shows that she ingested drugs and recently made love--most probably to a woman. Before Lucas leaves the house, things get even more complicated: a second body is found stuffed in a closet with a deep dent in the skull. In addition, one of Lucas's own men had been at the party and is now a suspect.

As always, Lucas's own life is not exempt from complications. An ex-lover comes back into his world--a woman he has never been able to forget--and she has secrets of her own. Also making an appearance this time out is a childhood friend to whom he turns for advice about women and life. Sister Mary Joseph, born Elle Kruger, is a professor of psychology and one of the computer brains who helps Lucas design his software. He calls her Nun the Wiser, and he often turns to her for spiritual as well as more concrete advice. Lucas is going to need all the help he can get to unravel his case as secrets pile upon secrets and the ground constantly shifts under his feet.

Easy Prey is another powerful link in this chain of muscular, exciting thrillers by one of the most distinguished practitioners in the field. --Otto Penzler

From Publishers Weekly

The 12th entry in Sandford's ever-entertaining Prey series (Certain Prey, etc.) finds Minneapolis Deputy Police Chief Lucas Davenport again rambling through a murky case with his unique combination of gutsy intelligence and aw-shucks attitude. Fashion model Alie'e Maison has been found dead in a back bedroom, seemingly strangled at a chic party. Then--typical of Davenport's luck--the body of a second woman tumbles out of a closet just as the investigating cops get ready to leave the scene. There's no shortage of suspects who could have killed Alie'e: her boyfriend, for instance, recently dropped in favor of a lesbian lover, or her brother, a backwoods holy man who disapproved of his sister's lifestyle. There are Alie'e's parents, who could be trying to cover up a history of sexual abuse; the local drug dealer who supplied Alie'e with heroin; and the oily banker who appears to be the money behind the drug dealer. As many of these suspects get murdered, one by one, including those connected to the second victim in the closet, it's clear that the killer remains at large. That makes Davenport and his colleagues look foolish in the eyes of the media horde descending on the case. To make matters worse, Davenport's having women trouble again, torn among three beauties who want to bed him. As always, it's a joy to follow this rare cop who gets led more often by his gut instinct than by clues. His humor, understated and perverse, can be wildly funny, and the people he runs across are shrewdly conceived originals, cut from fabric way at the back of the bin. BOMC main selection; simultaneous Putnam Berkley Audio; author tour. (May)

Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.