It’s been too long since we’ve met up with the Monkeewrench gang. We’ve missed those smack-talking Minneapolis homicide cops, Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth. And we’ve especially wanted to know how Grace MacBride, the creator and brains behind Monkeewrench Software, was contending with her rather unexpected blossoming motherhood. Well, they’re baaaaack! The whole cast of characters who clandestinely work behind the scenes to help their unlikely but grateful Minneapolis PD partners catch the bad guys return in THE GUILTY DEAD.

Harley Davidson, Roadrunner, Grace and Annie are an oddball assortment of societal misfit computer geeks who became almost overnight millionaires when they invented a top-selling computer game called Monkeewrench. Due to their prior success in crime solving, they are currently developing a prototype anti-terror database and tracking system in the posh fortress-like Minneapolis mansion they use as a home base and computer lab. This beta program, designed to red-flag suspicious behavior on the internet, would prove useful for state and local law enforcement agencies when the national systems are not fine-tuned for small town and rural areas.

"Without her longtime writing partner, will Traci deliver? The answer is an enthusiastic yes. Once again we get to play cops and robbers with this entertaining band of offbeat characters."

When the apparent suicide of prominent Minneapolis philanthropist Gregory Norwood begins to look like murder, Magozzi and Rolseth are called in to investigate. As they dig deeper, they uncover leads to a connection between Norwood and a man from his past who may be involved in a plot to blow up Minneapolis City Hall. This tightly plotted mystery leads to a tangled web of lies and deceit that could result in hundreds of lives being lost as the clock ticks down. Is a mad bomber behind this? Magozzi winces at the thought of crossing that fine line between privacy and national security, not to mention the Constitution. But when lives are at stake, especially Grace’s, Magozzi takes the risk and gets in touch with the Monkeewrenchers.

When the gang learns what is on the line, they kick into overdrive to get the program up and running to mine the internet for potential terrorist activity. Severely frowned upon by local authorities, this collaboration has worked in the past, and FBI Special Agent Dahl reluctantly looks the other way based on his past experience with this kooky bunch of gamers.

Fans of P. J. and Traci Lambrecht, the mother-daughter writing team who authored eight previous adventures in the northwoods of Minnesota, were saddened to hear that Traci’s mother, P. J., passed away in 2016. We’ve come to anticipate the somewhat ribald humor and byplay between the characters as part of the  P.J. Tracy style. With the hiatus between books, this has to be one of the longest pregnancies on record as Grace joins in the betting pool with her baby daddy, Magozzi, and others on the delivery date.

Without her longtime writing partner, will Traci deliver? The answer is an enthusiastic yes. Once again we get to play cops and robbers with this entertaining band of offbeat characters.