Publication Day Review: Lethal Prey: A Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers Novel by John Sandford

 

Back in 2003, Doris Grandfelt was brutally murdered and her body was dumped in a park. Law enforcement did what they could, but were unable to solve the case. That included the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension based in St. Paul and two young investigators, new to the organization, Jenkins and Shrake. Because they were new and the body was a young white woman, they were regulated to the periphery and not really able to work the case. They had some ideas on investigative leads that were not taken seriously by their bosses and slowly the case fizzled to a halt.

 

In the here and now of Lethal Prey: A Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers Novel set more than two decades later, Lucas Davenport is seeing 60 coming at him fast and is a bit depressed and bored. It has been a few months since the events in Toxic Prey and he misses having a smart killer or killers worth chasing. Both Letty and Weather think he needs a hobby. What he needs is a case worth doing as his current assignment, which has been marginally interesting, is about to be over in a few hours.

 

Soon he gets a call from Senator Elmer Henderson. While Davenport is a US Marshall, Henderson is pretty much his boss and likes to put him on projects that are very important and need results. At roughly the same time Davenport got his call, BCA Agent Virgil Flowers got his phone call from his boss telling him that he was assigned to work with Lucas and to attend a meeting with Lucas and numerous other folks the next day.

 

Davenport and Flowers go to the meeting at the house of Laura Grandfelt along with Senator Henderson and several other power brokers. Grandfelt has money and pollical connections and is tired of waiting for the wheels of justice to get her sister’s killer. It has been over twenty years and she wants the killer caught and dealt with by the justice system. She wants Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers to lead the new investigation as they had no role at all in the original investigation. She is also aware that they both have a reputation of getting killers. She is putting up a five-million-dollar reward for information that identifies the killer or killers and will go public with the offer later in the day.

 

She knows that announcing her offer on numerous True Crime websites will cause a huge media interest and bring out the crazies. She doesn’t care and won’t take no for an answer. Neither will their bosses who are present to pressure Flowers and Davenport to take the case. Not that any pressure is really needed as they are interested. They both realize that a storm is about to be unleashed and the best they can do is ride it out and work the case.

 

What follows is a complicated and fast-moving read. As often happens in this series now, readers know from the opening pages the identity of the killer. What is left is the chase and it is a good one.

 

Lethal Prey: A Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers Novel by John Sandford is another good read. Much of the backstory of Davenport and Flowers is repeated here so readers new to the series can jump in here. Us old hands at this series are reminded how much has gone on over all these years. A mighty good read and one that is well worth your time.

 

Strongly Recommended.

Amazon Associate Purchase link: https://amzn.to/42EBuM2

 

My digital reading copy was an ARC from the publisher, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, by way of NetGalley with no expectation of a review.

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2025