The Sandburg Connection - Mark de Castrique Sam Blackman, of the Cadillac versus Land Rover prosthesis fame, and his partner, Nakayla Robertson, have taken on a case involving a university professor who may be trying to scam their employer, an insurance company, for millions by faking the severity of her injuries.

Janice Wainwright, the woman they were following, for some reason, had changed clothes and headed off to climb a very steep hill,where, out of sight of the detectives, they heard a scream, the word “no”, and discovered her body on some rocks below. An autopsy revealed higher than normal levels of pain killers and the immediate suspicion is that she became dizzy and fell to her death. Her backpack revealed only a change of clothes and the receipt for a book of Sandburg poems purchased the day before. Sam and his partner have reason to believe she has been murdered. They discover a connection to Carl Sandburg, a song from the past, a box hidden in an old house, and a man who was high in the Confederate government.

I really don’t know if one should read the series in order or not. This is the third in the series and if you like to know how characters got to where they are then perhaps that might be useful. I thought this book worked well as a stand-alone. There does seem to be a thread running through the series: books. Sam, at one point, discusses the assorted books that had appeared in their investigations e.g. The Fitzgerald Ruse. De Castrique has another series going (Barry Clayton) that I will also have to sample. As an added benefit, I developed more of an appreciation for Carl Sandburg.

Well written, good plot, nicely developed characters; what more could one want. Disclaimer: I received this book free as an advanced reader copy. That affected my view not one whit.