Bloody Genius

Series completed! I think Sandford ended it at the right time. This latest book suffered from being a soley urban experience, none of the backcountry excursions filled with local colour. Virgil is well on his way to a happy ending and that meant that the hijinks around prospective partners seen in the earlier books were also absent. I enjoyed seeing the the ‘thugs' again, but missed Johnson Johnson. There was something a bit perfunctory about the mystery, sort of like reading a case file, there were twists, but even the climax didn't feel as high octane as previous entries. That and I clocked the murderer early.  I gotta say, didn't love the casual objectification of women followed by a moralizing conclusion that saw dire consequences for the three kids experimenting with sex and drugs. The main character is the son of a preacher but he's also ‘that fuckin Flowers' -  now reformed womanizer prudishly advising a young lady on her future. It's a tough combo for the reader to swallow. Given where this series went at its darkest I don't think I'm up for reading Sandford's grittier series. The search for likeable detective stories continues...maybe it's time for another Miss Marple...🤔