Remains of Innocence

July 14, 2014
A seeming stroke of good fortune for Liza Machettâfinding $147,000 in $100 bills squirreled away by her late motherâproves quite the contrary in bestseller Jance's absorbing 16th in the series featuring tough but tender-hearted Sheriff Joanna Brady (after 2012's Judgment Call). As Liza, a Great Barrington, Mass., assistant restaurant manager, tries to stay a step ahead of the arson and murder that start to erupt around her in the wake of her windfall, not to mention hometown cops who consider her a person of interest, there's also a mini crime wave sprouting on Sheriff Brady's turf in Cochise County, Ariz. Right on the heels of the suspicious death of a developmentally disabled senior, found with the remains of mutilated animals, a member of Brady's own teamâwith a link to Lizaâis tortured and murdered. As the dual story lines crisscross and the body count mounts, Jance hits her stride with a suspenseful plot that will keep readers flipping pages until the surprising, if overly convoluted, finale. Agent: Alice Volpe, Northwest Literary Agency.