Ten-Mile Trials (Jake Hines Mysteries, 8) - Hardcover

A one-time innkeeper with a taste for adventure, Elizabeth Gunn has been a private pilot, a sky diver, a SCUBA diver, and a liveabord sailor. Extensive travel in the US, Canada, Mexico, and Europe led to a second career as a freelance travel writer, during which she also began writing a series of police procedural mysteries set in southeast Minnesota, where she grew up. Her books contrast the sometimes gritty routine of police work with the idyllic rural scenes around a mid-sized city in the midwest.

Rutherford, Minn., population 100,000, isn't usually a hotbed of crime, but there's more than enough to keep police captain Jake Hines scrambling in Gunn's satisfying seventh novel to feature Hines (after 2007's McCafferty's Nine). In particular, a rash of well-planned burglaries and a couple raising marijuana in their garage and producing meth in their house strain Jake's investigative unit. A still warm, battered male corpse found in the garage poses further challenges. Meanwhile, Jake is busy adjusting to the new responsibilities of fatherhood and further belt-tightening mandated by the city council. Well-crafted supporting characters include Bo Dooley, who makes a surprising move from vice to domestic violence crimes, and Amy "Winnie" Nguyen, who shows an unexpected flair for undercover work. Reminiscent of the late Ed McBain's 87th Precinct crew, Rutherford's diverse, squabbling police force gets the job done in entertaining fashion. --Publishers Weekly, 21st December 2009

Gunn's Jake Hines (McCafferty's Nine, 2009 ) has his hands full: a new house, a new baby, and drastic budget cuts for the Rutherford, Minnesota, Police Department. The discovery of a dead man in a suburban house being used as a meth lab means that Hines will need all of his detectives on the case. The only clue to the victim's identity is a mass card written in the Cyrillic alphabet, leading Hines to wonder if a ruthless Eastern European gang may have started doing business in Minnesota. Then there is the string of burglaries hitting the city. The perpetrators' technique indicates that they are new in town. Jake has to work quickly to track them down, but the budget crunch makes it hard to deal with two complicated cases. This is a solid procedural with intriguing plot twists, engaging characters a vivid small-town atmosphere, and plenty of action. Gunn's series, with its emphasis on big-city crime invading rural America, will remind readers of Steven F. Havill's Bill Gastner novels, set in rural New Mexico. --Booklist, 1st January 2010