Football? FBI? Woman Taking Risks? and Southern! Dip Into MISSISSIPPI BLUE 42, by Eli Cranor

Eli Cranor moves toward the middle of the field, away from some of the gore and violence of Don't Know Tough, Ozark Dogs, and Broiler, to spin an entertaining crime novel in MISSISSIPPI BLUE 42, available August 5. 

Set, of course, in Mississippi, the plot tests how a college football team can excel and make it to the top tier -- when the money pushing it forward is unquestionably dirty. FBI rookie Rae Johnson, whose life as a top coach's daughter makes her a pro at analyzing the sport, doesn't yet have field experience in her new career. Six days of crawling through documents about team performance and the thriving success of its hometown hasn't thrilled her, but it's made her certain that no bunch of college players could possibly be as clean as the records show. No DWI? No speeding? No partner issues? Someone's cleaning things up.

Her partner Frank agrees. But unless they can find the threads to the man manipulating the situation, and fast, they'll have to wrap it all up and go back to the office.

Rae's determined to do better than that. 

A month ago, the FBI Director had been handing Quantico's Leadership Award to Rae, top of her class again, but where had that gotten her? Stuck with a past-his-prime field agent investigating a possible NCAA fraud case in Compson, Mississippi. The White-Collar Crime division of the FBI wasn't exactly the trajectory Rae had imagined for her career. A Joint Terrorism Take Force would've been more her speed. More contact. More action. A badass in a black jacket with JTTF stamped across the back, chasing down leads, collecting counterintelligence, and nullifying national security threats. Then again, how many agents' daddies were college football coaches? Rae knew why she was in Compson; she was there because of her father.

The death of rising star quarterback Matt Talley pushes Rae into overdrive, determined to solve a murder as well as track down the stink of dirty money. Her father's maxims are her go-to wisdom: at this point, "In case of doubt, attack." Is it wise for her to pursue the bad guys (hint: a noose is involved) or to fake a background in order to get close to the replacement quarterback? Will her pursuit of an "inside man" break the case, or break out in naked moments? (Come to think of it, how did her field-agent partner stay calm when Rae accidentally answered her door without pants on?)

Under the great action and the quick shots of humor, there's a beguiling protagonist here whose choices may not be wise, but are still smart, strong, and very understandable. The ultimate disaster for Rae comes with a stunning twist, and her ability to save herself -- and the case -- will depend directly on what kind of FBI agent she really is.

You don't have to know a field goal from a touchdown to love this one. And diving into it could be the best break of your summer vacation. Thanks, Eli Cranor and Soho Crime.

PS - Cranor is an Edgar winner. And Soho Crime/Soho Press calls this a series debut! I'm in. 

Cool Detroit Crime Fiction from Stephen Mack Jones, DEAD OF WINTER

Maybe Detroit has something in the water that affects authors. What, you think that's a joke? You haven't heard about Flint, Michigan? They're not so far apart ...

Think Loren Estleman's Motor City mysteries. Jane Haseldine's Julia Gooden series. A couple of titles from Elmore Leonard. Steve Hamilton and Jon A. Jackson place crime fiction in Michigan, too. And then there's Stephen Mack Jones, with his third Detroit crime novel.

DEAD OF WINTER samples Detroit's worn and reworked neighborhoods through August Snow, a former cop who's accepted a huge settlement for the way the city, his employer, treated him in the past. With that money Snow's been rehabbing his neighborhood. Honoring both his African-American father and his Mexican-American mother, he's enjoying a mixed heritage of good food and great friends -- especially his godfather Tomás, who's ready to put his explosive defensive skills to work for Snow whenever needed.

There's blackmail and some kind of real estate scam going on nearby, though, and the family of Authentico Foods owner Ronaldo Ochoa seems pretty strange about whether Snow should step into the dangerous mess, or leave them to make money from it. Good thing August has allies in the police force who thought he'd done the right thing way back when. Then again, there are a few who'd like to keep punishing him, by leaving him to the dangers of a net of billionaire developers creating luxury "safe houses" for international crime.

Meanwhile, Snow's equally international lover, Tatina, is pushing him to straighten out his life and stop feeling (rather alcoholically) sorry for himself.

Watching her dump the remaining half of a fifth of WhistlePig rye down the drain was painful, but I finally, in my confession, was addressing the things that were and had been tying my guts into a million strangling knots.

"People get hurt around me," I said. "That's the way it was in Afghanistan. The way it was at the DPD. And now . . ."

"People are saved because of you, August," Tatina said. She'd stopped pouring my booze down the drain. What a party that would be for the sewer rats of Detroit. "And don't think for a minute I don't know who you are, what you have done and can do. You're not that good of a liar, and I'm not that naive. Neither of us has any rightful claim to innocence."

Snow's crisis of conscience and the way his buddies boot him through it provide an extra strand of interest for a plot that features outsized shooting sprees, abundant threats, and sometimes absurd resolutions (when you finish reading it, tell me what you thought about the deer thing). All of which can't take away from the lively pleasure of reading Jones's enthusiastic and suspenseful storytelling from the point of view of a rich guy who loves the neighborhood. You won't need to read the other two August Snow novels before this one. But you'll probably want to buy them afterward, if they're not already on your shelf (August Snow and Lives Laid Away). They're too much fun to miss.

This one comes out May 4, from Soho Crime, an imprint of Soho Press.

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.