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Mystery Writer Sandford Unveils 'Hidden Prey'

Before John Sandford became a best-selling mystery writer, he was a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper journalist covering the rural Midwest. When he combined his journalistic instincts with his spine-tingling imagination, a career as a suspense novelist began. Today, mystery fans can't seem to get enough of Sandford's popular "Prey" series. The thrillers feature a hard-boiled, tough Minneapolis police detective named Lucas Davenport.

In Hidden Prey, the 16th book in the series, Davenport appears to have grown up somewhat. With a family, a house, and grey hair, the detective is not as rough around the edges as he used to be. "He's obviously getting older," says Sandford, but he also admits that after 15 books and a different relationship in each one, Davenport needed to settle down, as he was "starting to look like a predator."

In the first of a three-part series of conversations with suspense writers, NPR's Linda Wertheimer talks to Sandford about Hidden Prey and the future of the series.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

As NPR's senior national correspondent, Linda Wertheimer travels the country and the globe for NPR News, bringing her unique insights and wealth of experience to bear on the day's top news stories.