Marathon by Brian Freeman - 5*

[Doughgirl5562]

Although I love mysteries, it's been a long time since I gave 5* to a mystery novel. This one, however, deserves it.

Marathon is the 8th novel in the Lt Stride mysteries, police procedural mysteries set - primarily - in Duluth, MN. Duluth sits on the tip of Lake Superior, and is known for bitter cold in the winter. But the city is invaded by tourists in summer and fall who come for the beauty of the lake and its shore - or simply to watch the big ore ships come into port in Canal Park (which is strangly mesmerizing).

The Duluth Marathon (also known as Grandma's Marathon) is probably one of the most beautiful in America, because it is run in June on North Shore Drive along the shore of Lake Superior.. It ends in Canal Park in Duluth. But in this book the beauty of the marathon is overshadowed by tragedy when a bomb is blown up at the finish line, killing and injuring many.

Even the mention of the topic of this book might turn off some people, as it inevitably reminds you of the Boston Marathon bombing. However, I urge you to let that go. This book, in addition to being a very well written mystery with many twists and turns, is also incredibly relevant to current issues and very thought provoking. There is good and evil in this book -- but it also exposes the many grey areas in-between.

The Lt Stride mystery series is one of my favorites and I have read them all. However, my book club read this book. Very few of us had read any in the series before, but almost all agreed that with my thoughts above - and those that had not read any of the previous books had no problem following along.

[annapi]

I love mystery series, and have never heard of this one. Will give it a try!