Noontime Follies

Noontime Follies: A Jake Hines Mystery By Elizabeth Gunn Severn July 2015

Review by Cynthia Chow

Jake Hines knows that he is living a better life than anyone could have expected. Abandoned as an infant in a dumpster, Jake is now married to a DNA criminalist with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, father of a bouncing, escape artist eighteen month-old boy, and head of the detective division of the Rutherford Police Department. This success comes with a price though, as Jake has worked himself right up the ladder into an administrative desk job.

Rutherford, Minnesota is experiencing something of a boom, as a federal grant is providing inexpensive office space to new science start-up companies. While this is inspiring and bringing life to previously empty and run-down buildings, it also has expanded the patrol area and strained the limits of the RPD. Equally unhappy with the intrusions by these GMO labs are environmentalist groups calling themselves the Friends of the Earth, and they make their opinions known by breaking into numerous offices and leaving dire threats. When one of the partners of SmartSeeds is found unexplainably dead at his desk, few believe that it is the result of natural causes.

The joy of this tenth in the series stems from the life-threatening profession of criminal apprehension being boiled down to a lot of tedious paperwork and research. Jake may miss being on the streets, but he is also deft at matching the skills of his detectives with the tasks at hand. Whether a bigwig needs flattering, an emotional victim needs comforting, or someone is needed to cut through a witness’s pretense, Jake knows the perfect officer for the job. The detectives have a wonderful sense of camaraderie that allows them to banter, accept one another’s quirks, and trust that they will cover their backs. This includes their newest detective, a statuesque Nigerian woman who easily meshes into their department with her intelligence and blasé attitude. The title refers to the routine lunch breaks Jake takes with fellow detective Ray Bailey, as they are two married men with mortgages who save money by packing lunches from home. However, the title also comes into play as the criminal acts of the New Science businesses, which are awash with controversial DNA and biological experiments, ultimately boil down to very human motivations. Sardonic humor, clever dialogue, and ingenious and methodical detective work will appeal to fans of police procedurals in the flavor of Craig Johnson and Donald Harstaad.

This is book #10 in the Jake Hines series and somehow I managed to miss all the previous nine. That is a mistake I need to remedy in the near future. This police procedural series is the type where everyone within an entire police department takes part in the investigation and they progress in the mystery by sharing their findings. I enjoy that style of mystery because it gives me a good way to feel I'm solving the mystery at the same time.

Jake Hines is in charge of the detective division of the Rutherford, Minnesota police department. Still a small town, but moving quickly toward becoming a city because of all the business growth which has happened over the last few years. With more growth comes more problems for the police department, this time in the form of multiple cases being investigated by the Property Crimes division. A flurry of burglaries over a short period of time with no damage or property loss but messages left at the scene.

I liked not having a resolution to the natural death/murder question settled for a long period in the novel. The characters have appeared in many other novels so their personalities are very well set and I enjoyed meeting them as whole, complete people instead of works in progress which often happens in first novels. The action and the plot feels right for a small town in rural America so those are well done by the author. I do have to say I knew pretty early on who the guilty party was going to be, but the "why" was a surprise. It made sense even though my thinking had never gone in that direction. That distraction was very well done by the author. Recommended for readers who want to enjoy a book as they read it and not have to be constantly cringing away from descriptions of guts and gore.

I received an e-ARC of this novel through NetGalley.

Noontime Follies is a commendable police procedural featuring Jake Hines and his investigative team. Elizabeth Gunn does an excellent job showing how a complicated crime can be solved through diligent police work. This novel isn't for fans of mysteries heavy on action, having more in common with British police procedurals than American style crime novels. That being said, the puzzle posed is an interesting one and the ending is unexpected.

Rural Minnesota is a welcoming environment for biotechnology startups, but not everyone believes in extending that welcome. Rutherford's property crimes division is faced with a series of break-ins at new science startups across the city. Nothing is taken, but odd warning messages are left on the premises. Not long after, Nathan Gold, a scientist whose company was broken into, is found dead at his desk. Are environmental activists responsible for his death, or is there a reason closer to home? With attorneys from the other targeted companies breathing down his neck, Jake Hines and his detectives have to determine who is targeting the startups and what can be done to stop them, as well as discovering if Gold's death is murder and whether it is related.

The detectives under Hines are varied, with differing personalities, backgrounds, and specialties. Some work together better than others. Gunn's writing gives the feel of a real office environment, where the police are no less likely to have issues than others. The case is important, but it doesn't extend beyond the work day and progress is slow and methodical. While this adds to the realism, it also distances the reader from the murder and the suspects.

On the whole, Noontime Follies is a solid, well crafted police procedural. It is an interesting read, but doesn't involve the reader emotionally in the story.

Noontime Follies is available for preorder and will be released July 1, 2015

4/5

I received a copy of Noontime Follies from the publisher and netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

--Crittermom

Jake Hines is a police detective in the small town of Rutherford, Minnesota. He has a happy home life and a good relationship with his team, and he also has a tough mystery to crack: someone is breaking into local companies working with GMOs and leaving them threatening messages. When the messages are followed by a murder, the mystifying case gets even more complex.

I live in a small town with a lively start-up community which includes lots of cutting-edge science, much of it agricultural. I don't think I've ever before read a mystery in a setting like this, and I enjoyed the convincing look into the world of biotech startups. The complex characters and twisty plot kept me guessing, and I like the folksy narration by the likable Jake Hines. I'll be reading the earlier books in the series.