Review by Booklist Review
It's risky to bring characters from different series together, but in the tradition of Tony Hillerman, that's just what Jance does in her latest adventure, which teams J. P. Beaumont from the Washington State Attorney General's Office with Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady. When a murder victim turns out to be part of a Federal Witness Protection Program in Joanna's jurisdiction, Beaumont is sent down to oversee the investigation. Predictably, that puts Joanna's nose out of joint, until she realizes that J. P. isn't so bad to have on her side. By wrap-up time, the two seem destined to cross paths again. A clever twist at the end notwithstanding, the plot isn't up to Jance's usual standard, but there's enough tantalizing background about each cop to invite new readers to take a look at the respective detective series. Jance also does a bit of consciousness raising here, working in information about a horrifying chemical that is currently both unregulated and accessible. Let's hope the story doesn't give away too much! --Stephanie Zvirin
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this chilling novel, the prolific Nance successfully brings together her dyspeptic Seattle homicide detective J.P. Beaumont (Birds of Prey, etc.) and Cochise County, Ariz., Sheriff Joanna Brady (Paradise Lost, etc.). When artist Rochelle Baxter is murdered in Bisbee, Ariz., Brady's department is stunned that Baxter's next of kin is not a person but the Washington State Attorney General's Office. Baxter was Latisha Wall, an industrial whistle-blower in a Washington witness protection program pending her testimony at an important trial. Beaumont, now an investigator for the AG, is sent to Arizona to determine if Wall's cover was blown. The enraged Brady interprets his arrival as personal criticism; Beaumont feels uncomfortable with her resentment and with being in the hometown of his second wife, the serial killer Anne Rowland Corley. After a second murder, the two investigators develop mutual respect and even a physical attraction. The convoluted plot builds to a surprising solution, though the floundering romance ultimately comes off as forced. The most frightening feature is the cause of death sodium azide, an odorless, tasteless, unregulated chemical used in automobile air bags. Nance highlights the differences between her two protagonists by alternating Beaumont's first-person narration (despite her Seattle sleuth's dislike of Arizona's desolate scenery, the author describes it beautifully) with Brady's third-person chapters, which show how Brady, her staff and family handle pressure.(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Jance is famed for two series, one featuring big-city detective J.P. Beaumont and the other small-town Arizona sheriff Joanna Brady. Here, in a case involving the murder of an out-of-state attorney on Brady's turf, the two meet explosively. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
After fifteen J.P. Beaumont mysteries (Devil's Claw, 2000, etc.) and nine Joanna Bradys (Paradise Lost, 2001, etc.), it's clearly time for a Beaumont-Brady, though the joint case isn't terribly challenging to either sleuth. The tale begins in Cochise County, Arizona, Sheriff Brady's turf, when talented young artist Rochelle Baxter is found dead the night before her first-ever one-woman show. Homicide? Yes, indeed, complicated by the fact that there never was a Rochelle Baxter. The late headliner was actually Latisha Wall, who'd been stashed away in a witness protection program pending a court appearance in behalf of the state of Washington. Enter former Seattle homicide cop Beaumont, currently a special investigator for Washington's bristling attorney general, a boss who's hopping-mad over the loss of his star witness. Back when she answered to Latisha, the ex-marine painter had worked for a private prison corporation-until she blew the whistle on her crooked higher-ups. Was it these self-same lowlifes who did for Latisha, or was it a disappointed lover whose fingerprints have turned up in suspicious proximity to her body? Beau's been dispatched because his big-city masters don't trust "some little wet-behind-the-ears cowgirl" to conduct a proper investigation. Item: Beau and Joanne don't like each other. Item: Beau and Joanne operate at cross-purposes. Item: Beau and Joanne have an ah-ha moment after which they perceive each other's true worth and crack the case. Soft-boiled stuff, but then that's the way the target audience likes its eggs.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
