Off the Grid by PJ Tracy

Off the Grid by P.J. Tracy, 305 pages

Three months after she literally sailed off into the sunset with former FBI agent John Smith, Grace McBride has carved a new kind of life for herself, one that doesn't involve knee high riding boots. Grace's serene new existence shatters when two men board their boat with guns. Grace is forced to flee back to the States, where Monkeewrench and the Minneapolis PD are trying to figure out why terrorists around the world have called a jihad on John Smith. 

Off the Grid is the sixth novel in the Monkeewrench series.  Having read the books (mostly) as they came out, with years in between, rereading the Monkeewrench novels in such close proximity has drawn attention to PJ. Tracy's fascination with the morally gray. The idea of good people doing terrible things for the "right" reasons adds different facets to the story. Unfortunately, despite the interest that fascination brought to the narrative, this is probably the weakest book in the series. It lumbered and labored but never really got anywhere.

Snow Blind by P.J. Tracy

 Snow Blind by P.J. Tracy, 311 pages

After two police officers' corpses are discovered inside a couple of snowmen, the Minneapolis PD begins to wonder if another serial killer has found a killing ground in Minnesota. As Leo Magozzi and Gino Rosleth investigate the murders, they uncover some bitter truths and unearth dark secrets that have been buried for decades. 

Snow Blind is the fourth Monkeewrench novel. While not the strongest book in the series, the twist at the ending was unexpected. It's definitely worth a read, and like all the Monkeewrench novels, you don't have to have read the previous novels to enjoy it. 

Dead Run by P.J. Tracy

 Dead Run by P.J. Tracy, 326 pages

Grace McBride, Annie Belinski, and Sharon Mueller stumble right into the middle of a deadly secret after the little town of Four Corners meets with an unexpected disaster. As the three women struggle to survive, the rest of the Monkeewrench crew and their law enforcement friends search desperately for a way to find them before it's too late.

Dead Run is the third Monkeewrench novel and well-named: it hits the ground running and doesn't stop until the last page. This book rivals the first, although I might be biased, since this novel spends a lot of time with Annie Belinski and Sharon Mueller, two of my favorite characters. 

Live Bait by P.J. Tracy

 Live Bait by P.J. Tracy, 340 pages

After the bloody "Monkeewrench Murders," Minneapolis has had months for life to go back to normal. But the normal is shattered as elderly members of the community--all Halocaust survivors--are brutally executed. Leo Magozzi and Gino Rosleth, homicide detectives, are desperate enough to seek help from Grace McBride and the Monkeewrench crew, who have been busy trying to atone for the murders bearing their names by creating software meant to aid law enforcement in spotting patterns in seemingly unreleated cases.  Beneath every question answered is another mystery as Magozzi and Rosleth dig for the truth in a case that increasingly blurs the line between good and evil. 

Live Bait is the second novel of the Monkeewrench series. The mystery unwinds in a layered, satisfying way, and overall is nearly as good as the first novel.