Vengeance is Mine

by Joanne Fluke

As a family clinic administrator, Michele Layton has seen her share of suffering. But never anything like this. Not here in St. Cloud, Minnesota. A local activist has been found murdered, his body frozen like a statue and placed in a Winter Carnival ice sculpture display. Next a vicious hate crime puts a man in the ICU. And locked away in the Holy Rest mental ward, a deranged man of the cloth prays for more sinners to be punished—and waits for a sign from above. These seemingly random acts lead police chief Steve Radke to Michele, who could be the next pawn in a madman’s chess game of life and death, good versus evil…

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller

189 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Like Hannah Swensen, Joanne Fluke grew up in a small town in rural Minnesota where her neighbors were friendly, the winters were fierce, and the biggest scandal was the spotting of unidentified male undergarments on a young widow's clothesline. She insists that there really are 10,000 lakes and the mosquito is NOT the state bird.

While pursuing her writing career, Joanne has worked as: a public school teacher, a psychologist, a musician, a private detective's assistant, a corporate, legal, and pharmaceutical secretary, a short order cook, a florist's assistant, a caterer and party planner, a computer consultant on a now-defunct operating system, a production assistant on a TV quiz show, half of a screenwriting team with her husband, and a mother, wife, and homemaker.

She now lives in Southern California with her husband, her kids, his kids, their three dogs, one elderly tabby, and several noisy rats in the attic.

Series:
* Hannah Swensen

Reviews

[Terri Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never read any of Joanne Fluke's books before because I was only aware of the cozy mysteries with a chick lit vibe she wrote with each being titled after bakery goods- like the Blueberry Muffin Mystery, the Gingerbread Mystery and the Apple Turnover Mystery. I gag just typing the titles. I like my mystery/suspense/thrillers to be more gritty and mature than some Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery. Well, apparently Joanne Fluke wrote some better books before getting obsessed with chick lit/bakery/cozy mysteries but even this book has a few elements indicating where she'd be going in the future.

In St. Cloud, Minnesota, it is winter and the living is not easy even if you can manage to stay alive. Someone deranged is playing a deadly real-life game of chess and presuming to defeat evil by murdering people having apparently missed that pesky Thou Shalt Not Kill part of the bible. A woman walking her dog near the ice sculptures on the frozen lake where an upcoming winter event will be held as a fund raiser for a gay/lesbian center discovers one of the sculptures is a dead businessman frozen stiff. Ray Perini had been in real estate/building.

The police situation in St. Cloud is weird and unrealistic. The chief is away in Germany with his wife and cannot be reached. The acting chief Steve is a divorced man whose marriage ended because he refused to let his in-laws give them the downpayment on a nice house and pay for a housekeeper. Steve is old-fashioned in some ways and believes a man should be the sole support of his wife.He's a sweet and smart but hey fella, you need to get rid of that Neanderthal attitude.

The decision makers on how to solve the murder is acting chief Steve Radke, Mayor Les Hollenkamp, and Margaret Whitworth who is a wealthy older woman who owns and runs the local television station and newspaper. Yes, I know this makes no sense. Everyone seems to think it must be mafia related as the dead guy dipped his toes into murky legal waters quite often in his business and had many enemies in town.

When his lawyer Dale Kline is murdered next, it makes people nervous because he was liked but he had been Ray Perini's lawyer so the idea that he might have been hit by the mob was brought up. He is killed the same way as Perini with an odd cross-like metal object to the head.

However, a local gay man Brian had been attacked by burly members of a religious fanatic group who hated gays and in self-defense used martial arts on them in return, resulting in the death of one of punks and Kline was Brian's defense lawyer (because Michele, head of the Pro Choice Clinic had made him after finding he had impregnated his 15 year old daughter while drunk) so maybe Kline was killed over that.

Then everyone from Michele and Margaret and Steve to the mayor are attacked and the mayor dies. At each scene, a Catholic nun and bishop are seen creeping around. Could it have something to do with Holy Rest, a Vatican funded home for insane priests, bishops, nuns, etc in St. Cloud.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was hard to get into this book. There were so many characters to keep track of and the author didn't do a great job reminding the reader who was who. But once the story got rolling it was pretty good.

[Kerrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in St. Cloud Minnesota February 1985. A small group of prominent citizens, who are also good friends, is putting together some winter games for the local community, to raise money for a centre for the gay and lesbian people. The committee includes the Mayor and his wife, the host of the local television station, the acting chief of police, and the manager of a family clinic, as well as representatives of GALA (the Gay and Lesbian community). But not everybody is comfortable with coming events, and the associated publicity makes these citizens easy targets.

The first to die is a member of the committee, a business man who has been active in his support for GALA. As yet another dies, and then another, with not even any idea what the murder weapon could be, the people of St. Cloud begin to stay at home and the WinterGame looks doomed to failure. Steve Radke, acting police chief, needs to hold the community together, and prevent mass hysteria.

I had some trouble in separating out the main characters at the beginning of the book although there was plenty of information, perhaps the problem was too much, about each of them. By about a third of the way through though I had them all sorted and I was able to appreciate the complexity of the plotting, and also the romance between two of the characters.

We know almost from the very beginning who is responsible for the murders, and it seemed just a matter of time before they were caught. It takes the police four murders before they develop a theory about how the victims have been selected, but they still don't know who the perpetrator is.

An interesting read.

[Judah Kosterman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gay-bashing, waterbeds, no-big-deal gang rape, obsessive calorie counting, incest with no mandatory reporting, a marriage proposal won with home cooking and sex, the Catholic church hiding its criminally insane in a small and unsuspecting town – so, so many bad things from the 80’s all in one place. Also tons of 80’s technology references and plot points that hinge on them. This story is firmly set in the era in which it was written; it’s not timeless, and it wasn’t meant to be nostalgic, either. Readers less than middle-aged may find it difficult to swallow, and readers old enough to have lived through the 80’s may find themselves cringing.

That said, there are other problems. This book has a huge cast – far too many named characters, such that the reader is constantly flipping back and forth, trying to answer “who was that again?”. It also doesn’t stick to one genre (in a not-good way) – what starts out as a mystery novel becomes, halfway through, a combination of thriller and romance.

This book was released around the same time as the second installment in the author’s now long-running cozy mystery series. Small-town Minnesota, the epic season of winter there, the police and ME’s offices, and the obsession with coffee and baked goods are all fully formed here, and well done. But this story sorely lacks the secret ingredient of the cozy’s heroine. Best to appreciate this author by curling up with a Hannah Swensen mystery instead.

[D Nichols]

Interesting concept. Having mentally ill Catholic nuns and priests living in a supervised group home, A Bishop is severely mentally ill and wants to punish those who are homosexual and lesbian . He decides to kill them based on moves on a chessboard.

[Sandra Lockhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

While at the Aransas County Public Library, I checked out the large print edition of Vengeance is Mine by Joanne Fluke. I had read a humorous series by Joanne before and this one looked interesting. This book was set in a maximum security rest home for Catholic clergy who were no longer fit to serve their 'flock'. There was a cast of "characters" who made this WinterFest read humourous --the stand-in sheriff gets the girl and solves the crime.

[Dianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a disappointment of a read. I have enjoyed the Hannah Swensen Mysteries. Michelle Layton is a family planning clinic administrator who is inexplicably involved in a series of murders in St. Cloud, MN. I enjoyed the slice of life of the 80s, but the author should have stuck to a football theme rather hockey. Hockey doesn't have quarters or halftime. Rather too much mayhem for me. But each to their own.

[Clayton Hardy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining at best. I have read other of Joanne Fluke's (not cozy) novels and rate the others better. The story line was interesting and I had no problem keeping up with the many characters, but this was the only time I have read a book where the scene just shifts with the next sentence. Not even a space or two between lines. This was annoying, but I finally got used to it.

[Teresa Byrd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the story however it was annoying that the "scenes" ran into each other like run on sentences .

Not use to that style and felt it took away from the reading experience . Will read this author again hoping the style differs

[Leslie Nagel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Couldn't finish this one. The vast array of characters and constantly shifting POV made it annoyingly difficult to get into. As to genre, is it a thriller? a romance? a mystery? If the author isn't sure, how can the reader decide?

[deborah metcalf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprise in every chapter

This author has 2 different styles of writing and I like them both. After reading the Hannah series I tried this book. Very surprised. Enjoyed it immensely

[Susan Reyna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a strange book. The author reveals the murderer right at the beginning. The rest of the book is just day to day with a bunch of likeable characters trying to find out what we already know.

[bert-bobbi]

Tried this book a number of times. Just wasn't for me.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not my favorite book. It had good characters. The story was just not what I like to read.

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dated, but suspenseful

[Diane Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay read. Pretty predictable.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

totally different than most of her usual books, easy to follow and figure out the mystery.

[Lester · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fast, quick read.

[GB Deans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book! Easy read and smooth!

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A chain of events are they connected

[JulieB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. Gotta suspend lots of reality with this one.

[Kayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guessed the murder and was right! not often i am right :)

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in 1985 in St. Cloud Minnesota, Acting Police Chief Steve Radke finds himself in charge of a string of murders. Someone is bashing in the victim's head using a strange object.

Sister Kate is in charge of Holy Rest mental facility housing Catholic clergy. Her new boss, Archbishop Ciminski, has insisted on modernizing the facility including adding a TV and a computer for the residents' use.

Dr. Michele Layton is the director of the new Pro Choice Clinic and involved in the town's WinterGame fundraiser to help build a facility for the gay community.

Steve's attempts to date Michele are constantly interrupted as murder victims pile up.

Great suspense build-up as Steve tries to find the link between the victims that will lead to the killer.

E-format of a 1986 Fluke novel - still a good read!

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written before her Hannah Swensen cozy mysteries, Joanne Fluke has written a winner with Vengeance is Mine. We knew almost from the beginning who the killer was and we were just waiting for the police to catch up with us. There was a sweet romance between the two main characters, an adult romance, unlike the romances Hannah Swensen has with her two boyfriends in the cozy mysteries she now writes. I had some confusion with all the characters at the beginning of the book, but that got sorted out the more I read. It was a quick read, I finished the book in a couple of hours. Written during the 1980s, I didn’t find this book to be dated at all, even missing the modern conveniences like cell phones. I would highly recommend this book.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of Joanne Fluke's earlier mysteries. Since it was published in 1989 there are no modern conveniences. You find out who the murder is a hundred pages in and then watch how the police detective puts it all together with the help of his associates.

[judy campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet Things

Fluke should stick with the sweet Hannah Svensen series. This book lacked the ability to make the reader feel part of the story. Also no good wrap up at the end . I'd rather sit in the cookie shop any day.

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not all that good.

I have been reading JoAnne fluke murder cozies for years and I've liked them but this book was not up to par. I thought it was very uninteresting and boring. I don't think I could recommend it.

[Cheryl · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could not finish this book. It was very hard to follow and understand what was going on due to the fact the writing/story was so choppy. It was hard to understand the whats and whys of the story line.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so fun. It was written in the 80's and certainly feels dated, but it was still a great time.

[Christie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this novel by Joanne Fluke.