cover image The Guilty Dead: A Monkeewrench Novel

The Guilty Dead: A Monkeewrench Novel

P.J. Tracy. Crooked Lane, $26.99 (336p) ISBN 978-1-68331-858-3

In Tracy’s busy ninth Monkeewrench novel (after 2017’s Nothing Stays Buried), the computer geeks of Grace MacBride’s Monkeewrench software company join forces with Minneapolis homicide detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth. The death of Minnesota philanthropist Gregory Norwood just one year after the fatal overdose of his addict son, Trey Norwood, looks like a suicide, until Leo and Gino uncover enough oddities to suggest murder. Meanwhile, a new anti-terror program developed by Monkeewrench uncovers a terrorist plot to bomb city hall. That a lowlife named Gus Riskin had a hand in Trey’s death is revealed in the prologue, but Tracy maintains suspense by carefully concealing the links that connect Riskin to Gregory’s death and to the terrorist plot. The book’s chief pleasure lies in watching the members of MacBride’s oddball crew, including Harley Davidson and Roadrunner, match wits and skills with the wise-cracking detectives. [em]Agent: Ellen Geiger, Frances Goldin Literary Agency. (Sept.) [/em]