It's Christmastime in Minneapolis. A time for caroling, decorating, and murder. Two men who know each other but have never met are killed in different places at almost the same time. A woman finds still more dead people in her house. The cops are stumped. Enter Grace MacBride and her associates at Monkeewrench, a software company whose track record at solving seemingly unsolvable mysteries is impressive. As it turns out, the solution to this case lies in the past, with a secret scientific program that could spell disaster for the modern world. This is the seventh entry in a solid series that combines lighthearted characters and storytelling with serious mysteries.--Pitt, David Copyright 2016 Booklist

Tracy's entertaining seventh Monkeewrench novel (after 2012's Off the Grid) centers on a top-secret science project in 1957 that involved the eight men who developed the hydrogen bomb. In the present, Minneapolis homicide detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth turn to the Monkeewrench computer experts-Grace MacBride, Annie, Roadrunner, and Harley Davidson-when the only connection they can find between murder victims Chuck Spencer and Wally Luntz is that Spencer and Luntz are descendants of the eight men. Meanwhile, Lydia Ascher, another descendant, tells Magozzi and Rolseth about a website called the Sixth Idea that Spencer created to locate other descendants. The detectives are flummoxed by a kidnapping and the existence of an assassin who appears to be protecting the descendants. The Monkeewrench gang need all their various skills to track other descendants, protect Lydia, uncover a clever conspiracy, and help end the carnage in this successful mix of detection and thriller. Author tour. Agent: Ellen Geiger, Frances Goldin Literary Agency. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.