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November 24th, 2007 Lesley - Central

Invisible Prey, John Sandford’s latest novel to feature Minneapolis detective Lucas Davenport finds the investigator working on a politically sensitive sex case involving  state senator Burt Kline when he is called in after the beating death of a wealthy widow and her maid.  Constance Bucher was in her eighties and lived in a Twin Cities mansion full of antiques.  At first the murders appear to be the random act of junkies looking for drug money until a painting stored in the attic and worth a half-million dollars turns up missing.

With the help of an eager intern, Lucas discovers a series of similar crimes throughout the Midwest in which the victims were elderly, wealthy arts collectors.  The killers are revealed early on in the story which adds to the plot as events are revealed through their eyes.  Eventually the Kline and Bucher cases converge in an unexpected way when the murderers try to create a distraction as Lucas gets too close to the truth behind the killings.  Instead they turn on each other as the detective closes in on the scheme.

Although I haven’t read  many of the Lucas Davenport books (this is the 17th) and can’t compare this one to his earlier books, I did enjoy this mystery which could be viewed as a stand-alone novel

Entry Filed under: Mystery