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Summary
Summary
In the night-still canyons of the Arizona desert, a girl is on the run. Alone but for her beloved red-tailed hawk, she flees from the dark shadows of her young life, the horror she has witnessed...and the terror that now stalks her.
New York Times bestselling author J.A. Jance returns with her eighth novel in the highly acclaimed Joanna Brady mystery series. Set against the backdrop of the modern west, this gripping tale finds Sheriff Brady juggling a precarious overload in both her personal and professional lives. About to be married, Joanna's facing a daughter turning twelve and going on twenty, a meddlesome mother micro-managing her wedding, and new in-laws arriving any day. The sudden death of her much-loved neighbor and handyman, Clayton Rhodes, creates further turmoil, leaving Joanna shocked, saddened, and the target of Clayton's irate and irrational daughter, who accuses the Sheriff's Department of covering up a possible murder.
But amidst the uproar, the report of a homicide at Cochise Stronghold in the Dragoon Mountains quickly captures Joanna's full attention. An Indian woman has been found shot to death--a woman recently released from prision after serving time for the manslaughter killing of her husband. She is the mother of a missing fifteen-year-old, Lucy Ridder.
The death at first appears to be a case of domestic rage finally exploding'and a troubled teen runaway may be a victim, or a cold-blooded killer. Yet as Joanna deals with the long-standing troubles of Clayton Rhodes' family and digs deeper into the mysterious life of Lucy and her family, she discovers that investigating family hostilities is leading her down a twisted trail of hatred, greed, and far-reaching consequences--and into a dangerous world where violence is the first response and long buried secrets are a reason to kill...or die.
Once again, J.A. Jance delivers a gritty, deftly written thriller that unfolds on a vivid landscape of raw beauty and unrelenting danger. And, as always, Sheriff Joanna Brady brings the setting to life with the sensitivity, spirit, and intense passion for justice that makes Jance novels ring with authenticity.
Author Notes
Judith Ann (J. A.) Jance was born in Watertown, South Dakota on October 27, 1944. She received a degree in English and secondary education in 1966 and a M. Ed. in library science in 1970 from the University of Arizona. Before becoming an author, she taught high school English, worked as a school librarian on a Native American reservation, and sold insurance.
She is the author of many popular mystery series including the J. P. Beaumont Mystery series, Joanna Brady Mystery series, and the Ali Reynolds series. She won the American Mystery Award for Without Due Process in 1992 and for Failure to Appear in 1993. Both of these titles are books in the J. P. Beaumont Mystery series. In 2014, her fiction book, A Last Goodbye, made the New York Times bestseller list.
Random Acts, a title in A Joanna Brady and Ali Reynolds Novella Series, made the New York Times bestseller list in 2016.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
YA-Final preparations for Sheriff Joanna Brady's wedding are interrupted by the abrupt death of her elderly neighbor and by the slaying of a newly released convicted murderer, Sandra Ridder. The protagonist tries to balance the demands of her personal life with her professional priorities, but tensions escalate when the victim's daughter runs away from her grandmother's home in an attempt to protect herself from her mother's murderer. As the plot moves toward the final resolution, Brady's police skills and experience allow her to pull all the loose ends together, resulting in a story with never a dull moment. Readers of the earlier titles will recognize many of the characters, yet all of them are clearly drawn and have vivid personalities. Jance describes the Southwest desert both in terms of beauty and danger. The panoramic scenery and cloudless days realistically contrast with the rough terrain, the roads full of potholes and ruts, and dry, sometimes deadly land. Young adults who enjoy strong women as main characters and mystery as a genre will love reading about Sheriff Brady and the police matters she so ably handles.-Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Southwestern mysteries continue to grow in popularity, with Jance's series, set in southern Arizona, one of the strongest entries in the subgenre. The new novel to feature Sheriff Joanna Brady opens at the entrance to a desert canyon called the Cochise Stronghold, where Sandra Ridder, who is part Apache, is trying to retrieve an item she buried eight years ago, before going to prison for killing her husband. The next day hikers find her corpse, while Sandra's 15-year-old daughter, Lucinda, and the girl's pet red-tailed hawk go missing. Could Lucinda, who seems to be a troubled loner, have killed her mother as revenge for her father's murder? Joanna starts to investigate shortly before she's to be married. Then Clayton Rhodes, the neighbor who helps feed Joanna's animals, dies suddenly, and unexpectedly bequeaths his ranch to her. Clayton's estranged daughter feels she should have inherited the property. Unreasonably and viciously, she blames Joanna for exerting undue influence over her father. The tangled threads of Joanna's personal life come close to overwhelming her professional one, and she has to exercise all of her time management skills to keep the murder inquiry on track. Her fianc‚, Butch Dixon, comes off as way too perfect to be human, but his parents, in an amusing touch, are seriously dysfunctional. Sometimes the dialogue is stiff, but generally this is a solid installment in a worthy series. The Arizona desert, as usual in Jance's mysteries, plays an unforgettable part in this atmospheric tale. Mystery Guild dual main selection. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Library Journal Review
Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady's personal and professional identities collide like runaway trains in this eighth adventure in the Joanna Brady series (Outlaw Mountain). A week before her marriage to Butch Dixon, Joanna inherits the adjacent ranch when her kindly old neighbor perishes in an exhaust-filled garage. Though the old man's estranged, well-heeled daughter Reba shows up wielding accusations, as usual Joanna's professional life eclipses personal problems. Half-Apache, teenaged loner Lucy Ridder goes on the lam with Big Red, the red-tailed hawk that is her pet and only friend, and when Lucy's newly paroled mom, Sandra, is found murdered in a remote wash, Joanna must name young Lucy "a person of interest." Was Sandra, once a militant Native American college student, in over her head with unknown persons, or was she simply the victim of domestic violence having shot Lucy's father in self-defense? Lucy and Big Red are the endearing pair in this suspense charmer. Highly recommended for all libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 3/15/00.]-Susan A. Zappia, Paradise Valley Community Coll., Phoenix (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.