Synopses & Reviews
Once again the remarkable J.A. Jance-the
New York Times bestselling author of
Kiss of the Bees and
Devil's Claw—returns us to a world of desolate beauty and lonely terror in an extraordinary new novel as heartbreaking and real as it is grippingly intense.
Dora Matthews and Jennifer Brady, both thirteen, couldn't be less alike-yet the luck of the draw has made them tent mates at a Girl Scout Memorial Day weekend camping trip at Apache Pass.Dora is a wild child, a pregnant, fatherless waif with a missing junkie mother. Jennifer is the innocent daughter of Joanna Brady, the sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona. In the cool blackness of the high desert night, they slip away at Dora's prodding. What they find on their unauthorized hike will change their lives forever: the body of a murdered Phoenix heiress, abandoned to scavengers and the elements.
Sheriff Brady fears the traumatic damage that her daughter's grim discovery may have inflicted on the frightened teenager. Right now, however Joanna's foremost concern is the job she was elected to do, and she sets out on the trial of the dead woman's lowlife husband who cleaned out their accounts before he vanished himself.
The stakes get drastically higher in very short order when something happens to poor damaged and neglected Doran Matthews that hits Joanna like a runaway truck. Someone believes that the two girls who were where they shouldn't' have been two nights earlier are now loose ends that need to be tied up. And Joanna's own Jenny may very well be the next item on a killer's bloody agenda.
But one killer could turn out to be two-or perhaps even three. Suddenly terror has invaded Sheriff Joanna Brady's world in a form too awful to contemplate. As the nightmares of her professional and personal lives interweave-as a disturbing cloud of suspicion darkens the joy of her on barely one-month-old marriage-she knows that there are answers out in the wilderness that must be uncovered before time runs out. With everything she loves in jeopardy, one dedicated mother, wife, and law officer must piece together a deadly puzzle in which nothing seems to fit-as the clues and her keen instinct point her toward a place of secrets and bizarre cultlike obsession that some call "Paradise."
Review
“Joanna Brady is a delightful character.” Chicago Tribune
Review
"A strong appreciation for the Arizona countryside...a stronger central character." Dallas Morning News
Review
“Jance delivers a devilish page-turner.” People
Review
"J.A. Jance is among the best--if not the best--mystery novelists writing today." Chattanooga Times
Review
"[A] page turner...builds suspense and throws in some surprises as well. Jance's sense of place remains strong." Publishers Weeekly
Review
"In the elite company of Sue Grafton and Patricia Cornwell." *Flint Journal
Review
"Brady comes into her own in this book...making an already appealing character even more so." St Louis Post-Dispatch
Review
"The plotting is up to Jance's high standards...bracing." Cleveland Plain-Dealer
Synopsis
Return with
New York Times bestselling author J.A. Jance to the red-streaked desert of Cochise County, Arizona, in her most memorable and stunning work yet
For Sheriff Joanna Brady and her 12-year old daughter Jenny, an innocent Girl Scout camp-out turns into a lethal game when Jenny and her tentmate, Dora Matthews, discover a murdered Phoenix woman.
Back at home, Joanna's main concern is helping her daughter recover from this terrible trauma even as she attends to the demands of a new marriage and a possible reelection campaign. But then Dora turns up dead... and instantly Joanna's concern turns to terror. For if the killer is murdering potential witnesses, Sheriff Brady's beloved daughter may be next.
Synopsis
Once again the remarkable J.A. Jance-the
New York Times bestselling author of
Kiss of the Bees and
Devil's Claw—returns us to a world of desolate beauty and lonely terror in an extraordinary new novel as heartbreaking and real as it is grippingly intense.
Dora Matthews and Jennifer Brady, both thirteen, couldn't be less alike-yet the luck of the draw has made them tent mates at a Girl Scout Memorial Day weekend camping trip at Apache Pass.Dora is a wild child, a pregnant, fatherless waif with a missing junkie mother. Jennifer is the innocent daughter of Joanna Brady, the sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona. In the cool blackness of the high desert night, they slip away at Dora's prodding. What they find on their unauthorized hike will change their lives forever: the body of a murdered Phoenix heiress, abandoned to scavengers and the elements.
Sheriff Brady fears the traumatic damage that her daughter's grim discovery may have inflicted on the frightened teenager. Right now, however Joanna's foremost concern is the job she was elected to do, and she sets out on the trial of the dead woman's lowlife husband who cleaned out their accounts before he vanished himself.
The stakes get drastically higher in very short order when something happens to poor damaged and neglected Doran Matthews that hits Joanna like a runaway truck. Someone believes that the two girls who were where they shouldn't' have been two nights earlier are now loose ends that need to be tied up. And Joanna's own Jenny may very well be the next item on a killer's bloody agenda.
But one killer could turn out to be two-or perhaps even three. Suddenly terror has invaded Sheriff Joanna Brady's world in a form too awful to contemplate. As the nightmares of her professional and personal lives interweave-as a disturbing cloud of suspicion darkens the joy of her on barely one-month-old marriage-she knows that there are answers out in the wilderness that must be uncovered before time runs out. With everything she loves in jeopardy, one dedicated mother, wife, and law officer must piece together a deadly puzzle in which nothing seems to fit-as the clues and her keen instinct point her toward a place of secrets and bizarre cultlike obsession that some call "Paradise."
Synopsis
The New York Times bestselling J.A. Jance is back! Cochise County, Arizona, and Sheriff Joanna Brady faces her most personal and dangerous case when her daughter discovers a body in the Arizona wilderness.
When Cochise County, Arizona, Sheriff Joanna Brady′s daughter Jenny goes off on a Memorial Day weekend girl scout camp-out in nearby Apache Pass, Joanna trusts that her 12-year-old daughter will behave. But with boy-crazy Dora Matthews as a tentmate, Jenny is seduced into taking a late night unauthorized hike into the wilderness where--instead of smoking a clandestine cigarette--she and Dora stumble upon the body of a murdered Phoenix woman. Knowing that her little girl will be traumatized by her experience, Joanna must balance concern for Jenny with the demands of her new marriage and possible bid for reelection. But when young Dora Matthews herself turns up dead two days later, Joanna′s concern turns to terror. For if Constance Haskell′s killer is murdering potential witnesses, Jenny may be next.
About the Author
J. A. Jance is the New York Times bestselling author of the J. P. Beaumont series, the Joanna Brady series, three interrelated thrillers featuring the Walker family, and Edge of Evil. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona, Jance lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington, and Tucson, Arizona.