I enjoyed this it was fast and had interesting characters and it is not necessary to read the books in order

Another fun romp through Minnesota with mother-daughter pair PJ Tracy’s mystery series. Light fun crime/mystery. Exactly as advertized and just what I wanted.

That ending though.

Another good read from the Monkeewrench gang. This one was a bit more serious than the last one, but similar with the mix of humor and suspense. There's a bit of philosophy mixed in - the question of whether it's OK to break a law for a good reason. But you'll have to decide for yourself just as the characters in the story need to decide - although it's not certain what decision they come up with.

Fun premise and the pages were easy enough to turn—and sometimes that's enough. Was it great? No. But it was fine, and that's more than plenty of thrillers can say. (I say this having edited plenty of thrillers lately. Snow Blind has a reasonable floor.)

I’m drawn to this series because of the rather unusual nature of the characters. The Monkeewrench group, which designs gaming software and uses its computer skills to solve murders for law-enforcement agencies, is made up of some of the most intriguing and unusual people you’ll read about anywhere.

As book four opens, the twin cities are under a deluge of snow that is nasty and prolonged, even for the twin cities. Poor Detective Gino Rolseth has once again been tasked to be a judge for an upcoming snowman competition. There’s more tan plenty of snow for the competition, and on the day it occurs kids from throughout the region have gathered to build the best snowman. As it can on wintery days, the sun pops through and slightly warms things up—just enough for some of the snow creatures to melt a bit. One curious builder glances at a slightly sun-dilapidated snowman and realizes something is horribly wrong with it. Seems an innovative criminal has encased a dead human inside all that snow and fashioned a snowman with the dead guy inside. Before long, it becomes apparent that the dead snow dude was a cop. Worse still, youthful snowman builders are further traumatized by the fact that another body is found encased in yet another snowman. This time, it’s the partner of the dead cop. Now two cops are dead, and young snow lovers in the twin cities will never be the same again.

Before the mystery is solved, another cop in another city will die, and the Monkeewrench gang will have to step in and help solve the murders.

This is certainly an innovative way to kill people. This could diminish slightly my annual holiday tradition of watching “Frosty, the Snowman.” Even Jimmy Durante’s cheerful gravelly voice may not be able to dissipate the images of dead cops encased in snow.

This story has one of the most original premises I've seen in awhile. Hiding murder victims in plain sight, using the weather to disguise the bodies was unsettling. Everyone loves a snowman and to defile something so treasured was gruesome.

The investigation was interesting, too, especially when it began to center around the newly elected sheriff of Dundas County, Iris Rikker. What was even more fascinating was the reactions of the other law enforcement professionals working the case. See, Iris unseated a man who'd been Sheriff for many years and, aside from some basic textbook and classroom training, she had no practical experience beyond her previous role as a dispatcher. This was her first day on the job.

The change in narrators was so subtle it was hardly noticeable and the voices of the characters seemed to stay the same.

There are some very strong and controversial themes in this story, most centered around women. The loudest messages stemmed from Detective Gino Rosfeld, who's sexist attitudes were hard to bear. He was a distraction to the story, even though in the end, he looked foolish. But, his attitude and that of other recurring characters have bugged me in earlier stories and continue to do so, especially as they're never countered. There are too many competent women surrounding these men for them to perpetuate such Neanderthal thinking. It undermined what would have been a compelling story with a psychologically and emotionally complex ending. 3.5 stars

I found this book laying on the table when I took my seat in 1st class on the GNER east coast train to London.
Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, the book became my travelling companion.
What a brilliant, happy accident!
This may not have been the first book in the series, but I still got into it straight away.
Loved the sick humour in it. I think I might really enjoy this series.

In this fourth book of the Minnesota-based Monkeewrench series, the corpses of two cops are found disguised as snowmen in a park. When a third body similarly staged is found in the rural upstate region, it seems it might be a serial killer case.

Minneapolis detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth head up the investigation in the Twin Cities, with the assistance of the close-knit tech wizards – the Monkeewrench gang. The story also pulls in Iris Rikker, the inexperienced new sheriff of the county where the third body is found.

Plot-wise, Snow Blind is not as thrilling, edge-of-your-seat as the first three of the Monkeewrench series. Even so, it is still satisfying and twisty. The detectives are thrown by some unexpected moral complexity.

I really liked the new character of Iris Rikker. At first, her inexperience is frustrating as you want this beleaguered new sheriff to instantly find her feet and prove her naysayers wrong. But it doesn’t work quite like that and I like how P. J. Tracy gradually revealed the truth of Rikker’s position. I also liked how you can’t tell whether her Sheriff Lieutenant, Lt. Sampson, is going to be her ally or detractor. I hope that Rikker shows up in later books, just as I hope for the return again of Wisconsin detective Mike Halloran and deputy Sharon Mueller.

Strangely enough, the characters that make up the Monkeewrench gang are not my favorite part of the Monkeewrench series. The authors have fun describing their quirks and clothing choices and their tech wizardry, but it’s always the cops that I want to read more about.