From Publishers Weekly
In this chilling novel, the prolific Jance
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. Jance
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.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
In this chilling novel, the prolific Jance
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. Jance
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.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.