Bittersweet

February 16, 2015
Bestseller Albert addresses some big social and political problems in her entertaining 23rd mystery featuring herbalist China Bayles (after 2014’s Death Come Quickly). China and her family are planning to spend Thanksgiving with her mother, Lethea, and stepfather, Sam Richards, in Texas’s Uvalde County. When Sam suffers a heart attack, Lethea persuades China not to cancel the visit. On arrival, China starts worrying about helping her mother, but she soon has other concerns, including the havoc caused by invasive foreign plants and the privacy issues presented by drone technology. The big money involved in deer hunting, however, looms over everything else. Some ranchers have turned their properties into specialized resorts where wealthy guests can shoot bucks bred to have enormous antlers. Opponents call them “canned hunts.” It’s a subject fraught with political implications—and the shooting death of a veterinarian may be related. Hunky deputy sheriff Ethan Conroy, a distinctive character in his own right, lends assistance in one of China’s more memorable adventures.

February 1, 2015
An herbal expert and a game warden pool their knowledge to solve a crime. China Bayles and her family head for remote Uvalde County, Texas, where her mother, Leatha, lives on a ranch with her second husband, Sam, who's currently in the hospital with heart problems. China, who owns the Thyme and Seasons Herb Shop, is hauling plants for a friend's garden, and she's looking forward to seeing her friend Mackenzie Chambers, a local game warden. Leatha and Sam plan to open a guesthouse for birders, but with Sam so ill, Leatha's happy to get some help from Sue Ellen Krause, a perky cowgirl eager to escape her abusive husband, who works at Three Gates Game Ranch, one of the many places in Texas where people can hunt tame animals bred for their trophy racks. There's big money in canned hunting, and Sue Ellen knows that her husband and two of his friends are involved in something illegal. Since China's still a lawyer, Sue Ellen asks her for advice but never tells her the whole story. In the meantime, Mack meets a crusty local veterinarian who says he's seen tattooed fawns on a ranch where they're not supposed to be. But he's equally stingy with details. All trophy hunt ranches must have escape-proof fences and tattoo all their animals, many of them exotic varieties that could ruin the genetics of the local animal population. When the old veterinarian is shot and killed, China and Mack compare what they know and find a disturbing solution. Not the best of China's many cases (Cat's Claw, 2012, etc.) but a compelling look at the ethics of canned hunting.

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Starred review from March 15, 2015
China Bayles is getting ready to spend Thanksgiving with her mother, Leatha, when she learns that her stepfather, Sam, is in the hospital with heart trouble. She is relieved that her mom is being helped by Sue Ellen, a friend who just left her volatile marriage. When China arrives, Sue Ellen hints that she knew her husband was involved in the theft of illegal deer-breeding equipment. In the meantime, game warden Mackenzie, a friend of China's, is hearing about deer theft for the big-business trophy ranches, but the veterinarian who told her about it is murdered. Then Sue Ellen is run off the road and killed in her car. Mack is dating a deputy sheriff and the three of them put together the pieces. Albert pulls in disturbing and timely topicsdrones and deer breedingfor an engrossing and twisted tale. Mack, a character who will remind readers of J. A. Jance's Joanna Brady, has personality enough to carry her own series, though China continues to appeal with her herbal information and savvy sleuthing.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)