Review: Five Card Stud

Author Elizabeth Gunn continues to pen a strong series about an interesting detective, Jake Hines, principal investigator in the mythical town of Rutherford, Minnesota. FIVE CARD STUD is the third in Gunn’s series of well written, carefully plotted stories. Elizabeth Gunn was a resident of Rochester, Minnesota for several years, and her familiarity with the people, the ways and atmospheres of that region of the state are presented to good advantage in these stories.

Her characters are strong and interesting, playing equivalent parts in what is essentially a police procedural. Part of the attraction of this series is the ongoing mystery of Jake Hines’ background. Although he’s native Minnesotan and was educated in state school systems, Hines is an anomaly. Brown-skinned and black-haired, he stands out among mostly fair German-Norwegian-Swedish residents of southern Minnesota. He was abandoned as a newborn and in spite of a succession of foster homes, gained a good education and is now a successful, respected police detective. But Jake Hines is only the central character in a story peopled with strong and engaging characters, one of whom is Jake’s love, Trudy.

Trudy is on the staff of Minnesota’s crack Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, a crime scene expert. The BCA is constantly on the go, helping local law enforcement agencies solve major crimes. When Jake gets called from a late-night poker game in the dead of a frigid winter night, he already knows that Trudy is stuck in some snow-drifted town in Northern Minnesota. Here, in Rutherford, on a Sunday night in January, the town is in the midst of a blizzard that shows no signs of letting up. The temperature is dropping and a call comes in. There’s a naked guy under the twenty-ninth street overpass. The naked guy is dead.

Jake and other police personnel respond, however reluctantly. Their meticulous efforts to try to protect the crime scene in spite of the snow, and Jake Hines instincts as a police officer, lead his department to uncover more crimes of greed and passion.

With her outstanding skills as a writer, author Gunn demonstrates once again seamless plotting, interesting characters and a strong sense of the local environment. Well-paced for lasting enjoyment, this author’s locally set series will be one to follow for years to come.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Carl Brookins - RAM

Book Review: Five Card Stud