Book Review: Things in Ditches

Reviewed By: Webspinner - RAM

Things in Ditches     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Jimmy Olsen
Class/Genre:   Mystery
North Star Press; 2000; 310pp [PB]

"Things in ditches" belong to Walleye Wertz. He knows this, because he heard the sheriff tell the Boy Scouts so when they were taking his cans and bottles that he collects for money. Unfortunately, on this cold Minnesota morning, what Walleye finds is the body of a beautiful, naked, and very dead Vicky Johnson. So begins one of the most convoluted mysteries I have read in a long time. Every time I thought I had a handle on what was going on, Olsen threw in another plot or character twist.

Dutch Cleland, the town butcher, knows he killed his ex-girlfriend. After giving up the idea of suicide, he heads north with a monster snowstorm right on his heels. The Chief of Police can't get much in the way of cooperation from Dutch's wife, Jean, who has problems of her own and there are two of Vicky's ex-husbands looking for Dutch with murder on THEIR minds. And the Chief has another problem - there hasn't been an autopsy, because the body has disappeared, the County Sheriff keeps trying to take the case away from him, he gets little respect from anyone, and he's trying to catch his first-ever murderer.

Jimmy Olsen has a real gift for descriptive writing. Make sure you have a warm sweater or a fireplace nearby with this one. The wind-chill will definitely have you reaching for something warm. There were times I thought I was visiting a bunch of lunatics, but it does all hang together, and the punch line was worth the wait.

Webspinner - RAM

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