Part of Virgil Flowers, book 11
First published 2018
Pinion, Minnesota has seven hundred residents and zero prospects. The mayor runs on the slogan "I'll Do What I Can" because honestly, what else can you promise in a dying town? Then he and his friend cook up a plan. They've heard about places where religious apparitions draw pilgrims by the thousands. Pilgrims need hotels, restaurants, souvenirs. Everyone gets rich. So they decide to manufacture their own miracle involving the Virgin Mary. The scheme starts rolling, but then someone turns up dead. That's when Virgil Flowers gets called in. What began as a harmless con job spirals into something much darker. The mayor discovers that fake miracles attract real danger, and Virgil finds himself untangling a mess where greed, desperation, and small town secrets collide in ways nobody saw coming.
Genres: mystery, crime, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, small-town
Setting: Pinion, Minnesota
373 pages · Hardcover · G.P. Putnam's Sons