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Undeveloped: A Pine County Mystery
A 1998 cold case that is revived when undeveloped photos are discovered in a garage-sale camera. A photo of a missing man, obviously taken the night he disappeared leads Sergeant Floyd Swenson, of the Pine County Sheriff's Department, through an investigation of evasive friends, anonymous letters and the missing man's dysfunctional family. Like Where Evil Hides, Hooker, and Unforgettable, Dean Hovey takes the reader on a journey to rural Pine County where small town issues abound and many skeletons are hidden in the thousands of acres of lakes and swamps.
- GenresMystery
448 pages, Paperback
First published November 10, 2014
3 people are currently reading
32 people want to read
About the author
Dean L. Hovey
46 books61 followersDean is the best-selling author of more than thirty books in three series including the award winning "Family Trees."
His Pine County series are set in rural Pine County Minnesota and are hard-boiled thrillers featuring the Pine County Sheriff's Department.
His Doug Fletcher series are set in National Parks and Monuments. Fletcher is a retired St. Paul police detective who's drafted by the Park Service to investigate a number of murders, suspicious deaths, toxic waste dumping and other crimes. This series is also somewhat hard-boiled, but include a touch of romance and humor as Doug sorts out his relationship with his former boss, Jill Rickowski.
The Whistling Pine series are cozies set in Two Harbors Minnesota. The protagonist is the recreation director of the Whistling Pines retirement community and he deals with the day-to-day issues of his senior citizens and is reluctantly dragged into the investigations of local murders.
His Pine County series are set in rural Pine County Minnesota and are hard-boiled thrillers featuring the Pine County Sheriff's Department.
His Doug Fletcher series are set in National Parks and Monuments. Fletcher is a retired St. Paul police detective who's drafted by the Park Service to investigate a number of murders, suspicious deaths, toxic waste dumping and other crimes. This series is also somewhat hard-boiled, but include a touch of romance and humor as Doug sorts out his relationship with his former boss, Jill Rickowski.
The Whistling Pine series are cozies set in Two Harbors Minnesota. The protagonist is the recreation director of the Whistling Pines retirement community and he deals with the day-to-day issues of his senior citizens and is reluctantly dragged into the investigations of local murders.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 28, 2022
This book was ok. I enjoyed the mystery aspect. Being from Carlton County Mn (just north of Pine County) I loved reading about where the characters were going. I did find some of the dialog a bit corny…almost too Minnesota nice. Nothing was untrue lol, just seemed to really point out things like Lutefisk, coffee, pie and small town gossip.
The actual murder part was interesting and I had a hard time trying to figure out who was involved. The writing stays with the police, so you don’t know the thought of the suspects.
I needed more at the end involving the guilty party.
The actual murder part was interesting and I had a hard time trying to figure out who was involved. The writing stays with the police, so you don’t know the thought of the suspects.
I needed more at the end involving the guilty party.
January 28, 2024
Pine County is on the eastern edge of Minnesota, about halfway between the Twin Cities and Duluth. It’s a rural area, with a fair amount of relatively new growth pine timber (you may have heard of the Hinckley Fire.) Much of the economy depends on vacationers and people stopping for a break between the two metropolitan areas. Naturally, there’s a certain amount of crime, so there’s an active modern sheriff’s department with an undersheriff, deputy sergeants and regular deputies that do most of the day to day law enforcement. This is my home county, so I naturally picked up this book.
In summer 2014, a tourist buys a camera at a local garage sale with some already-exposed film. When the pictures are developed, Barb, the photo expert at the Pine City drugstore, calls the sheriff’s office. (The ethics of a developer revealing what’s on film entrusted to them is at least discussed, unlike in Shutterbug Follies.) Two of the pictures might be related to a missing person case from back in 1998. One of the photographs is particularly disturbing.
Deputy Sergeant Floyd Swenson decides that it would be worthwhile to at least follow up this new clue, even if it’s a cold case. The investigation is made more complicated by the time that’s passed. The person whose camera it was died the day after the disappearance, and the remaining people in the group photograph have scattered. There are painful memories involved, and some secrets that no one wants to discuss.
It looks like Floyd’s hit a dead end until a piece of paper shows up on his front door asking him to “let sleeping dogs lie.” That tells him he’s dug up something, but which of the trails is correct?
This is a police procedural, so there’s a lot of legwork, repeatedly questioning potential witnesses, getting clues in for analysis, asking for warrants, and looking at maps. There are some brief moments of violence as well, but the deputies are trying to avoid that, and no firearms are discharged.
Floyd’s an older widower, and getting closer to potential retirement. He’s sweet on flower shop owner Mary, and vice versa but taking it slow as he’s not fully ready to move on.
The other deputies who have major roles are Sandford “Sandy” Maki, an upright fellow who’s getting serious enough with Barb that they’re considering marriage, and Pam Ryan, a relative rookie who isn’t seeing anyone right now (maybe in a future volume.)
There’s a lot of small-town small talk in this book, some advancing subplots. some establishing character, and a fair bit just there because that’s what people in small towns talk about. Some of it might come across as overly polite or irrelevant to people who aren’t from around here, but yes, that’s how conversations go. (Some of it does get to the point of padding, mind.)
The romantic subplots advance satisfactorily for those who’ve been following the characters from earlier books. The mystery is solved, but that’s a bit of a downer. One could argue that the photographs staying lost would have been better for everyone involved.
Political: All the law enforcement officers depicted are very careful to follow proper procedure and stay within the letter of the law, being entirely good-intentioned. They are sometimes frustrated when, for example, a witness lawyers up, but don’t try to trick the person into speaking without one. The sheriff himself is depicted as being a bit too concerned with how cases make him look to the public, but it’s mentioned that being a politician is part of his job.
One of the officers needs to have it explained to them what a smartphone is.
Content note: Murder, suicide, rape, domestic abuse. Homophobia, sexism, bullying, alcohol and drug abuse. Rough language.
Overall: I very much enjoyed the local color. “I’ve been there. I’ve eaten there. I’ve driven down that road. Hey, my actual hometown gets a chapter!” I suspect this aspect will be less a draw for non-Minnesotans. While it’s very much in the culture, there’s none of the humorous exaggeration that say, Fargo had. Indeed, very little humor altogether. Most recommended to police procedural fans.
In summer 2014, a tourist buys a camera at a local garage sale with some already-exposed film. When the pictures are developed, Barb, the photo expert at the Pine City drugstore, calls the sheriff’s office. (The ethics of a developer revealing what’s on film entrusted to them is at least discussed, unlike in Shutterbug Follies.) Two of the pictures might be related to a missing person case from back in 1998. One of the photographs is particularly disturbing.
Deputy Sergeant Floyd Swenson decides that it would be worthwhile to at least follow up this new clue, even if it’s a cold case. The investigation is made more complicated by the time that’s passed. The person whose camera it was died the day after the disappearance, and the remaining people in the group photograph have scattered. There are painful memories involved, and some secrets that no one wants to discuss.
It looks like Floyd’s hit a dead end until a piece of paper shows up on his front door asking him to “let sleeping dogs lie.” That tells him he’s dug up something, but which of the trails is correct?
This is a police procedural, so there’s a lot of legwork, repeatedly questioning potential witnesses, getting clues in for analysis, asking for warrants, and looking at maps. There are some brief moments of violence as well, but the deputies are trying to avoid that, and no firearms are discharged.
Floyd’s an older widower, and getting closer to potential retirement. He’s sweet on flower shop owner Mary, and vice versa but taking it slow as he’s not fully ready to move on.
The other deputies who have major roles are Sandford “Sandy” Maki, an upright fellow who’s getting serious enough with Barb that they’re considering marriage, and Pam Ryan, a relative rookie who isn’t seeing anyone right now (maybe in a future volume.)
There’s a lot of small-town small talk in this book, some advancing subplots. some establishing character, and a fair bit just there because that’s what people in small towns talk about. Some of it might come across as overly polite or irrelevant to people who aren’t from around here, but yes, that’s how conversations go. (Some of it does get to the point of padding, mind.)
The romantic subplots advance satisfactorily for those who’ve been following the characters from earlier books. The mystery is solved, but that’s a bit of a downer. One could argue that the photographs staying lost would have been better for everyone involved.
Political: All the law enforcement officers depicted are very careful to follow proper procedure and stay within the letter of the law, being entirely good-intentioned. They are sometimes frustrated when, for example, a witness lawyers up, but don’t try to trick the person into speaking without one. The sheriff himself is depicted as being a bit too concerned with how cases make him look to the public, but it’s mentioned that being a politician is part of his job.
One of the officers needs to have it explained to them what a smartphone is.
Content note: Murder, suicide, rape, domestic abuse. Homophobia, sexism, bullying, alcohol and drug abuse. Rough language.
Overall: I very much enjoyed the local color. “I’ve been there. I’ve eaten there. I’ve driven down that road. Hey, my actual hometown gets a chapter!” I suspect this aspect will be less a draw for non-Minnesotans. While it’s very much in the culture, there’s none of the humorous exaggeration that say, Fargo had. Indeed, very little humor altogether. Most recommended to police procedural fans.
January 13, 2020
Loved this book! Didn’t know what happened until the end and enjoyed the characters and storyline along the way. Not to mention I’m from Mn and this story is based in Mn but I still would have enjoyed it anyways! I couldn’t put the book down and finished in in a day and a half.
March 26, 2023
Book 4 in the series
A well written who-done-it with lots of interesting characters set in northern Minnesota. It starts with a picture from an old roll of film that was recently developed. A great story.
A well written who-done-it with lots of interesting characters set in northern Minnesota. It starts with a picture from an old roll of film that was recently developed. A great story.
October 15, 2024
A minnesota story without a snow storm!!
January 18, 2025
Very fun read. Even better as it centered around our current town Pine City.
May 27, 2015
Always enjoy Dean's books! Love the local touch and our small town characters!
Read
June 2, 2016Great book; keeps your interest. Hard to put down.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews