Five Card Stud (Worldwide Library Mysteries) [Paperback]

Elizabeth Gunn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2001 | Series: Worldwide Library Mysteries (Book 389)

Unlucky Stiff.

It's a frigid winter in Minnesota, but detective Jake Hines has bigger problems than keeping warm. The body of a man, nearly naked and frozen solid, is discovered at a highway overpass. The victim is identified as a local trucker shot through the head, leaving Jake with the following questions: where is the man's truck and his missing partner?

The truck is later found, complete with an unusual spattering of blood; then police locate the body of the other trucker. As Hines probes the last days of these two men and the relationships they had with family and friends, a strange dichotomy begins to emerge, as well as a grim picture of betrayal, greed and fear. But for Jake, solving a murder is a lot like playing cards -- figure out who's bluffing and who's got the perfect hand, especially when one of the players is a cold killer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

One stormy night in Rutherford, Minn., police detective Jake Hines (of Triple Play and Par Four) and his buddies are comfortably ensconced in a poker game when an urgent call comes in about a half-naked man found dead in a snowbank. As Jake reluctantly makes his way to the snowy crime scene, he calls in an eccentric dermatologist and part-time coroner, "Pokey" Pokornoskovic, to help with the investigation. Although considerably hampered by the blizzard conditions, they determine that this is a case of brutal murder, not the more usual winter storm death from hypothermia or suicide. The fiercely cold Minnesota winter weather continues to affect just about everything Jake and his fellow investigators do over the next few weeks. The author takes the reader straight through both the dogged routine and the hectic excitement of a homicide inquiry, as the detectives and the coroner determine that the victim is a long-haul truck driver, and that his partner, his truck and his valuable equipment are all missing. Occasionally, the fine details threaten to overwhelm the story, but generally Gunn's characters have enough idiosyncrasies and personal problems to keep them interesting, while the narrative remains firmly focused on the murder investigation. Gunn has produced a refreshingly straightforward, suspenseful procedural in a series that bears watching. Agent, Kristin Lindstrom Agency. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

YA-Jake Hines finds himself in charge of a murder investigation during one of the severe snowstorms common to Minnesota winters. The victim, a partially clothed man found frozen in a snowdrift, at first offers few clues to his death. Battling the bitter cold, Hines and his staff search for additional information about the case, and the investigator's personal life takes second place to his professional life. The plot intensifies as another murder victim turns up. Gunn moves the plot step by step through red herrings, presenting a detailed police-procedural novel with no clue overlooked and no suspect ignored. She deftly incorporates the hows of searching a murder location and describes autopsy procedures in as palatable terms as possible. Not a lot of time is spent developing deep insight into the characters; the story focuses on solving the crime. Besides Hines, the true secondary character is the Minnesota winter, which determines so much of what will happen and when. For young adults who aren't bothered by some realistically crude language and allusions, the story holds details of police investigations both interesting and illuminating.
Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Worldwide Library; Reprint edition (July 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373263899
• ISBN-13: 978-0373263899
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,055,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good read, May 18, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Five Card Stud: A Jake Hines Mystery (Hardcover)

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

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Frozen Solid, July 29, 2001

By 

Judith Lindenau "dulcie22" (Traverse City, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Five Card Stud (Worldwide Library Mysteries) (Paperback)

"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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read, Great Plot, Great Mystery, November 2, 2003

By 

Maggie Mae (Reno, Nevada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Five Card Stud (Worldwide Library Mysteries) (Paperback)

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.