Damage Control

Sheriff Joanna Brady has her hands full once again. Lately, Cochise County, Arizona, has more than its quota of questionable deaths. A man is shot in a home invasion; an elderly couple drive their car off a cliff; the bones of a developmentally delayed woman are found in the desert; a trailer fire kills a disabled man and leaves his family homeless. Johanna Parker narrates with gusto, keeping the excitement at fever pitch. As Sheriff Brady deals with the burgeoning crime wave, she must also cope with a new baby, her teenaged daughter, her budding novelist husband, her meddlesome mother, and the revelations in her late father's journals. J. A. Jance writes another engrossing mystery, and Parker's performance keeps interest high and the many characters multidimensional. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

June 16, 2008
Sheriff Joanna Brady and her staff face a host of challenges while her husband, Butch, tends their infant son in bestseller Jance's solid 13th novel to feature the Cochise County, Ariz., cop (after Dead Wrong
). A woman shoots a home intruder, an elderly couple drive their car off a cliff and a mysterious fire kills an older man and leaves three homeless. Were these accidents or something more sinister? When Det. Jaime Carbajal's nephew discovers a body in the desert, the investigation leads to a shady organization that operates halfway houses for troubled and disabled persons. Meanwhile, Joanna must deal with her interfering mother, who exhibits a sudden personality change, and the discovery of family secrets about her late father and late first husband. As usual, Jance beautifully evokes the desert and towns of her belovedsouthwest as well as the strong individuals who live there. 10-city author tour.

August 1, 2008
Cochise County, Arizona, Sheriff Joanna Brady is a sleep-deprived new mother working long hours on several investigations. An elderly couples car soars over the guardrail at Montezuma Pass Overlook. Were their deathssuicide, or is something more sinister going on? The couples feuding daughters add complications. Meanwhile, a teenager, a nephew of one of Joannas deputies, finds skeletal remains in a garbage bag and later turns up missing. On the home front, Joanna and her husband, author Butch Dixon, must share child-care duties, while Joanna also deals with her rocky relationship with her mother, who is at odds with Joannas stepfather, the county medical examiner. Police procedure, county budget woes, and the problems inherent in law-enforcement agencies cooperating with one another frame the fast-paced mystery. This thirteenth in a series ends with substantive changes coming to Joannas department.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)