In this 13th book in the 'Sheriff Joanna Brady' series, Joanna has a new baby at home and a tough caseload at work. The book can be read as a standalone.
*****
Sheriff Joanna Brady of Cochise County, Arizona is having a hard week. An elderly couple - Alfred and Martha Beasley - drove off a cliff in an apparent double suicide.
A fire in a rented trailer killed an old man and left his daughter and grandchildren homeless.
Detective Jaime Carbajal's nephew found a human skull while scavenging for abandoned possessions around the United States-Mexico border.
And a disabled man named Wayne, who lives in a group home, is missing.
When Joanna and her detectives look into the incidents they learn that the Beasley couple's 'suicide' is suspicious; the trailer owner is accusing the dead man's grandkids of starting the fire; and the skull (and accompanying skeleton) belong to a murdered, mentally challenged woman named Wanda Mappin. Moreover, Wanda, who also lived in a group home, may have known the missing Wayne.
During their inquiries, the cops interview the Beasley's daughters - sexagenarian twins who hate each other, create chaos, and threaten to sue Sheriff Brady for (bogus) police brutality.
In addition to other inquiries, the police also question personnel associated with the group homes - who turn out to be less than forthcoming.
In Joanna's personal life, her husband Butch - a thriller writer who helps run the house, raise teen daughter Jenny, and care for baby Dennis - needs to go on a book tour to promote his first novel. So who's going to help out at home?
Joanna's mother is having an emotional crisis and is hardly speaking to her second husband, who happens to be Joanna's favorite medical examiner.
And Joanna reads her deceased father's journals and learns disturbing things about him.
The story is filled with drama and tragedy, and Joanna sheds some tears and shows her 'Irish temper' before the novel comes to a satisfactory conclusion.
By the end, Joanna must deal with changes both at home and at work, and it will be interesting to see how this plays out in subsequent books.
This is an enjoyable mystery, recommended to readers who like suspense novels, especially fans of Sheriff Joanna Brady.
Rating: 3 stars
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