Virgil Flowers — tall, lean, late thirties, three times divorced, hair way too long for a cop — had kicked around a while before joining the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. First it was the army and the military police, then the police in St. Paul, and finally Lucas Davenport had brought him into the BCA, promising him, "We'll only give you the hard stuff." He'd been doing the hard stuff for three years now — but never anything like this.

In the small town of Bluestem, where everybody knows everybody, a house way up on a ridge explodes into flames, its owner, a man named Judd, trapped inside. There is a lot of reason to hate him, Flowers discovers. Years ago, Judd had perpetrated a scam that'd driven a lot of local farmers out of business, even to suicide. There are also rumors swirling around of some very dicey activities with other men's wives, of involvement with some nutcase religious guy, and of an out-of-wedlock daughter. In fact, Flowers concludes, you'd probably have to dig around to find a person who didn't despise him.

That wasn't even the reason Flowers had come to Bluestem. Three weeks before, there'd been another murder — two, in fact, a doctor and his wife. The doctor was found propped up in his backyard, both eyes shot out. There hadn't been a murder in Bluestem in years — and now suddenly three? Flowers knows two things: this wasn't a coincidence, and it had to be personal.

But just how personal is something even he doesn't realize, and may not find out until too late. Because the next victim... may be himself.

Librarian's note: as of 2021, there are 13 volumes in the author's Virgil Flowers series. The last was published in April 2021. It is in the "Prey" series but Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers share the billing - "Ocean Prey."

Reader Reviews

Jonathan Janz

(5/5)

May 02, 2024

Incredible. Virgil Flowers is so real I feel like I know him. Sandford is truly a craftsman from whom all writers can learn. Loved the book. Love Sandford. Love Virgil. Back to writing...

Jack Heath

(4/5)

4 Stars. He has made a few appearances in the Lucas Davenport "Prey" novels; wasn't it time for Virgil Flowers to have his own lead? He doesn't disappoint. Flowers pulls me in - he's more complex than Davenport, and other officers can't easily get past his style of dress and methods. Davenport is independent, Flowers more so. Yet he is an extremely good detective, smart and dogged. Then there are his women, three times married! And still not gun-shy! Davenport, his BCA boss, gives him one of the...

James Thane

Dark of the Moon is the book that introduces Virgil Flowers, the second major series character to be created by John Sandford. Virgil is an investigator for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which is run by Lucas Davenport, Sandford's better-known protagonist.Virgil is pretty laid-back for a cop. His wears his hair long and his standard uniform is a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt sporting the name of some (often) obscure rock band. When he needs to dress it up for a special occasion,...

Kemper

(3/5)

Even a super cop like Lucas Davenport can’t solve every murder in Minnesota so John Sandford helped him out by doing this spin-off to the Prey series.Virgil Flowers is not your typical law enforcement officer. He has a thriving side career as an outdoor writer for hunting and fishing magazines, he frequently tows his boat around the state as he works his cases, and he usually forgets his gun under the seat of his truck. He also has a taste for rock band t-shirts and enough charm with the ladies

Phrynne

And so I discover another great series. I am already progressing through Sandford's other long Lucas Davenport series which I really enjoy too. I am never going to be short of a good book am I?Virgil Flowers is a character and a half! He reminds me a bit of Sean Duffy and Logan McRae - tee shirts, music and attitude. However, so far at least, he does not rely on drugs or alcohol. That is refreshing. I hope it lasts.There are all sorts of things in the book which people might object to - bad lang...

Tim

Typically, John Sanford is one of my favorite authors. With this story, it helps to be familiar with Virgil Flowers as I found more palatable after getting to know the character. Fortunately, there are better Flowers stories ahead. 4 of 10 starsThis re-read from 10 years ago of the Virgil Flowers character. 1st read was 2-stars, the re-read, 3-stars and as previously stated, "there are better Flowers stories ahead." 6 of 10 stars

Michael

I liked this serial killer thriller because of its rural Minnesota setting and for its introduction of likeable detective Virgil Flowers. Refreshingly, he has no demons in his past, no addictions, no backstabbing boss, no cynical outlook. He’s just a good hearted guy from a small town who is so talented at problem solving and drawing people out that he was tapped by Lucas Davenport to handle tough cases by the statewide Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. His father was a minister, so he has a fair...

Obsidian

(1/5)

I still say that John Sandford was trolling his readers with the first book in his series. He took all of the complaints of the Lucas Davenport series and just went to level 10 with everything. Lucas was a man that no man can say no to, Virgil rolls into town and gets a woman interested in him in like 5 minutes. Lucas does things out of bounds, well Virgil just goes and works around local law enforcement until he needs them as well and oh in one case several people get shot up and I don't even k...

Quenya

I admit I was worried that no man could compete with Lucas Davenport and I was right but Virgil is close and also different enough that I didn’t have any issues with confusing the characters. I love the “Prey” series and was looking for another dark mystery to start. Dark of the Moon didn’t disappoint and I adore Virgil. Maybe I just have a thing for Minnesota detectives. I was very happy at how fast the mystery took off in this book and also how there was very little down time from Virgil inves...

Lobstergirl

Old man author alert! This was published in 2007 but Virgil Flowers, the cop protagonist, seems to have time traveled from 1974, or maybe he's really a 13-year-old. "Look at the ass on that woman," he exclaims to someone he's just met, then refers to her breasts as "not a bad set of cupcakes." She has the "fourth-best ass in the state of Minnesota." But later when he sees her nude in the shower, she now has the "third-greatest ass in Minnesota." Even once he's dating this well-assed woman, his a...

William

Short reviews of wonderful Virgil, sorry. (Notes added 2020-02-18)This was excellent, complex, interesting characters. Great action. As usual with my reviews, please first read the publisher’s blurb/summary of the book. Thank you. Some small patches of solid humour throughout. Nice. The house was suburban-comfortable; its distinguishing characteristic was that the lawn was essentially a field of hosta plants. Thousands of them, like a midget army from Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Notes and q...

Tracy

Nice revisit to the beginning of the Virgil Flowers series. I enjoy his series as much as Lucas Davenport's (and from where Virgil's was spun off). Virgil is very different in personality from Lucas and (IMO) just as cool, smart, and suave.

Jim

Flowers is an excellent character. I really appreciated the hard-nosed realism that he displays in a tough situation. It's a small town & pretty obvious early on that everyone knows everyone else & their business. That includes the killer(s). There's a lot of dirty laundry & hard feelings. Some of it is old & some may be new. The list of suspects is long & hits close to home. A very tough job & he handled it admirably. No superman, just a canny one.Guns were very well done, too. None of the supe...

Lauren

There was an old joke about a small town: a real small town meant you didn't have to use the turn signals on your car, because anybody behind you already knew where you were going... Everyone Virgil Flowers meets wants to ask him about the time he shot at a guy fourteen times and missed. Virgil's gotten sick of trying to convince them that he didn't really want to hit the man, who was only shooting at him because he was desperate and who didn't really want to hit him either. Considering the g

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Dark of the Moon

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Reader Reviews