Holy Ghost

The Virgil Flowers series remains the only detective style mystery series I can remember where the dialogue and observations make me giggle on a regular basis, which is why I keep reading them, despite never quite shaking the occasional appearance of wince-worthy passages representing small town not-quite-elightnened mindsets towards women and trans people that don't get covered under ‘he meant well' because the protagonist never seems to challenge the viewpoints, and hey, unlike earlier books, this one was published in 2018. 
I did appreciate Virgil losing his shit when a scared 
civilian points a gun at him; it's pretty clear it wasn't the author's intention, but I think it acts well as an argument for gun control. 
In that same theme, I did not expect to hear a short, cogent argument for the problem with bow hunting. 
The heart-warming family moments and the community of quirky characters that pulls together to solve a murder keep me coming back for more. 
I can see where readers might point out the repetitive points in the investigation, covering the same motives, not quite looking closely until later to serve the plot, but for whatever reason, this time round, I found the meandering pace with the multiple story lines amusing instead of aggravating. 🤷🏼‍♂️ 
Storygraph says there's only one more in this series, (as it was published five years ago, I think it's safe to call that the end), so after that I'll be open to suggestions for new books/series following likeable detectives solving not too grisly crimes. 

⚠️ Domestic abuse