Five Card Stud

I grabbed this off the library shelf because I was on my way to the post office and needed something to read while I stood in line. As it turned out, the line was short, but I kept reading when I got home. This is my first Jake Hines and I didn't feel lost. I liked all the characters and the fact that it took awhile to sort them out. The detecting was excellent and the pace perfect. Only slight quibbles: Jake is awfully nice, but then I was glad to read a non-hardboiled detective. On the other hand, I wasn't completely convinced he was a guy. I mean I accepted that he was a guy and had a girlfriend, but as a guy he was almost too good to be true, what with how nice he treated everyone. That said, I plan to start with the first book and read my way through all of them.

On a cold Minnesota winter night Rutherford homicide detective Jake Hines is called away from a poker game to view a crime scene. It's a colder than usual night and Jake wonders if maybe he'd hadn't made the right career decision, especially when he arrives and finds an almost naked man dead in a snow bank. Hypothermia he thinks at first, but he quickly changes his mind when he sees the bullet hole in the victim's head. The dead man was a long haul trucker who everybody seemed to like, so why had he been killed, where is his truck and what about his driving partner, where is he? A lot of questions to be answered in this book that is heavy on forensic evidence and the intricacies of police investigation. A great read, a great plot and a great mystery.

"Five Card Stud" is a good police procedural. It features Jake Hines, a Minnesota detective, and a huge snowstorm. In the background are Jake's girlfriend Trudy; a whole cast of unsavory midwestern characters who have nothing to do but shovel snow, play the lottery, and dream up nasty things to do to each other; and a bunch of snowplows working day and night to dig everybody out of the storm so they can get on with hurting each other.The result is a grotesque assortment of frozen corpses, and a logic-defying puzzle. It's an entertaining book to read from the standpoint of plot and action, and the local color is realistic and fascinating.A good book.

I started with the first book (Triple Play) and thought it was good and really enjoyed Jake, so moved on to the second (Par Four). It was better. I love Jake! He is so efficient at work, but so vulnerable and unsure in his private life. The third book (Five Card Stud) is awesome and I can't wait for the fourth which I have ordered---in hardcover. I guess other folks have caught on to the good thing, too. Keep them coming, Ms Gunn, and we will keep reading.

It is a cold night in Rutherford, Minnesota with wind chills way below freezing. Most people stay off the roads preferring to be at home with family waiting for the storm to break. Police Detective Jake Hines is playing poker with his teammates when the call comes in that a partially naked male has been found under an overpass. Since nobody else is available, Jake goes out to investigate. He expects to find a victim of the cold stormy weather but soon learns that the dead man was a victim of foul play.Through hard work and old-fashioned police investigative skills, Jake and his crew discover that the deceased is a truck driver, who along with his partner, was returning to his home base after a run to Nogales. No one knows where the truckload of one million dollars worth of freight is or whether the partner is dead or alive. The case turns more bizarre as Jake keeps digging deeper in an effort to bring a killer to justice.Elizabeth Gunn continues the smooth as silk Jake Hines mystery series (see TRIPLE PLAY and PAR FOUR) with a wonderful police procedural, FIVE CARD STUD. Readers watch a homicide investigation from the beginning call up to the arrest and confession. It is so well written that the audience will feel like a team member obtaining insider information. Jake remains a fabulous detective and his crew helps bring out much of his personality with their interactions and relationships. FIVE CARD STUD is a police procedural novel that is fun to cruise along with.Harriet Klausner