Holy Ghost — John Sandford

The Hardcover Dust Jacket Synopsis:

Virgil Flowers investigates a murder--and a miracle--in the wickedly entertaining new thriller from the master of "pure reading pleasure" (Booklist)

Wheatfield, Minnesota is a metropolis of all of six hundred souls and change for which the word "moribund" might have been coined. Nothing ever happened there and nothing ever would, until the mayor (of sorts--campaign slogan: "I'll Do What I Can") and his precocious teenage buddy come up with a scheme to put Wheatfield on the map. Should something dramatic occur--say, an apparition of the Virgin Mary miraculously appear at the local Catholic Church--the whole town would be turned into a shrine, attracting thousands of pilgrims. And all those pilgrims need food, shelter, all kinds of crazy things, right. The town would get rich! What could go wrong?

Then the shootings begin. And as they--and Virgil Flowers--are about to discover, that's only the beginning of their troubles. . .


This must be an advanced copy blurb:

Virgil Flowers investigates a miracle--and a murder--in the wickedly entertaining new thriller from the master of "pure reading pleasure" (Booklist)

Pinion, Minnesota: a metropolis of all of seven hundred souls for which the word "moribund" might have been invented. Nothing ever happened there and nothing ever would--until the mayor of sorts (campaign slogan: "I'll Do What I Can") and a buddy come up with a scheme to put Pinion on the map. They'd heard of a place where a floating image of the Virgin Mary had turned the whole town into a shrine, attracting thousands of pilgrims. And all those pilgrims needed food, shelter, all kinds of crazy things, right? They'd all get rich What could go wrong?

When the dead body shows up, they find out, and that's only the beginning of their troubles--and Virgil Flowers'--as they are all about to discover all too soon.