Buried Prey by John Sandford

Old crimes often come to light years after anyone expects them to.  That's the case with the two small bodies that have been brought to light when demolition uncovers their final burial place under the basement of an abandoned building.  Lucas Davenport, although not with the Minneapolis Police Department any longer, still goes to the site when he hears about it.  These are the bodies of the two young sisters who were his first murder case and his work on the case had propelled him from the uniformed division to the detective bureau.

The first case had been declared solved when a street person had been killed during pursuit.  Lucas, who had been instrumental in finding him, had his doubts, but the supervising officer had been about to get a promotion and was ready to put the case in the books as solved.  Lucas, knowing he was the rookie and probably didn't know as much as the more senior officers, had eventually let it go.  Now he is determined to find out if they all made a mistake back then.

Lucas suspected a shadowy man back then.  He suspected that the clues they had to the homeless man had come from tips, and that those tips seemed very convenient, coming whenever the investigation seemed to be moving away from the transient.  There was another man around the fringes of the case named John Fell, and although that was obviously a pseudonym, Lucas is convinced that finding Fell will also mean finding the murderer.  Can he succeed now where he once failed?

This is a fascinating read for fans of Lucas Davenport.  The curtain is drawn and the reader sees behind the scenes at Lucas' first case.  They see the drive and determination that propelled him to the heights of success he later reached, and they see that the same drive and determination make him a deadly enemy to have.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.