Book Review - Shoofly Pie by Tim Downs

Watch your back Gil Grissom, there's a new bug man in town.

Similar to the famous CSI character, Tim Downs has crafted a humorous, intelligent, eclectic and highly likable character in this first installment of what has already become a four book series. Dr. Nicholas Polchak is an entomologist with North Carolina State University who has chosen to hone his craft and concentrate his research in the emerging field of forensic entomology. Unfortunately for Nick, his penchant for taking it upon himself to assist the local authorities with their cases is not always appreciated. After his most recent run-in with the Wake County Sheriff's Department, Dr. Polchak is "encouraged" by his faculty superiors to spend the summer at NC State's Extension Research Facility in Holcum County North Carolina, which is just as backwoods as it sounds.

Hailing originally from Pittsburgh, PA, the small town environment is not exactly Nick's proverbial cup of tea. But he's content to ride out the summer minding his p's and q's while continuing his research with his assistant, Dr. Eustatious Tedesco (Teddy). That is until Mrs. Katherine Guilford shows up and offers Nick quite a sum of money to look into the apparent suicide of one of her life long friends. He soon agrees and what follows is a fast paced ride into the world of forensic entomology and small town ties.

Primarily a crime thriller, this book certainly delivers in most ways. As a former cartoonist, Downs seems to have done his due diligence in researching for this character. The forensic and entomological elements of the book flow very naturally without feeling forced. Most every character is well developed to where you get a real sense of who they are without having to endure agonizing periods of back story or self-reflection from them (the lone exception being the deputy, who I still don't get.) The pacing of the book is swift and always kept me wanting to read "just one more chapter." While Downs never delivers a shocking "I never thought he would turn out to be the killer" kind of moment, there are still plenty of little revelations along the way to keep the reader hooked.

That being said, I'd be remiss not to point out a couple of problems I had with the book, the first being the genre. Downs writes what would be classified as religious fiction and admittedly, it's a tough genre to nail. The only real connection I could find to this classification were a couple of seemingly out of place scenes that included a minister. You get the sense at one point that the author is trying to make a point that ultimately there is much more to death than just investigating the carcass that remains. That for all of Dr. Polchak's explanation and knowledge of the various stages of decomposition, the real concern should be with what happens to the soul. But that theme is never expanded on and so you're left as a reader to either dig deeply for it and gloss awkwardly over it.

Secondly, there is a whole prelude that is supposed to set up Mrs. Guilford's relationship to the other small town characters as well as establish her extreme insect phobia, which of course is supposed to be ironic in the face of Dr. Polchak being an entomologist. But the phobia is never well developed and that part of the plot falls kind of flat when it comes in to play during the climax towards the end of the book (which felt a little rushed and out of place).

Overall though, I really did enjoy this book. Tim Downs has created what may be one of my favorite characters in Dr. Polchack and his character alone makes this a worthy read. Is it a keep you on the edge of your seat thriller? Not really. Will it keep you guessing right up until the end? Probably not. Are there some plot elements that may disturb the over-analytical types? Likely yes. But if you enjoy the CSI type crime dramas and are looking for a nice summer book that's well written, fast paced and has some memorable characters, then this is well worth the read.