The Serpent's Daughter

October 29, 2007
Set in 1920, Arruda’s captivating third Jade del Cameron mystery (after 2006’s Stalking Ivory
) takes the feisty photojournalist and explorer to Morocco. Jade and her exceedingly proper mother, Inez, have agreed to meet in Tangier to try to mend their contentious relationship. When Inez is kidnapped, Jade’s desperate search leads her first to Marrakech and then to a Berber village high in the Atlas Mountains, dodging drug smugglers, slave traders and Jade’s old nemesis, Lilith Worthy. Arruda laces her story (sometimes a bit awkwardly) with the myths, history, customs and crafts of the people who live in Morocco and the Maghreb (“the land of the western sun”), particularly the little-known Berbers. Jade’s escapades should appeal to fans of Elizabeth Peters’s Amelia Peabody series or the Indiana Jones movies.

November 1, 2007
In a gesture of peace, photographer and adventuress Jade del Cameron ("Stalking Ivory; Mark of the Lion") agrees to meet her mother in 1920s Tangier. Unfortunately, Mrs. del Cameronwho believes her daughter should settle downis promptly kidnapped. While a missing amulet, drug smuggling, a Berber tribe, and the return of the vindictive and dangerous Lilith Worthy add plot direction to this rollicking tale of adventure and suspense, the story takes as its focal point the mother-daughter relationship and the women's growing sense that they are more alike than they care to admit. Jade's World War I experience as an ambulance driver makes her resemble Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs, albeit a bit spunkier in that Jade reacts to bad situations à la Indiana Jones. There isn't much of a mystery here, but the rest is stellar. For historical mystery collections. [See Prepub Mystery, "LJ" 9/1/07.]

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2007
Move over Amelia Peabody, theres a new girl sleuth in Africa. Young, cheeky, and beautiful Jade del Cameron takes resourcefulness and courage to a new level in her third encounter (following Mark of the Lion, 2006) with the Dark Continent and its cultural and geographical surprises. Jade agrees to visit her mother, Inez, on neutral ground inMorocco, though she dreads Inezs matchmaking tendencies and stodgy views on ladies comportment. After their first inevitable argument, the two women separate for the afternoon, during which time Inez is kidnapped, and Jade, on the trail of a missing amulet, trips over a dead body and overhears voices in a dark tunnel. During the ensuing race against a faceless evil, she finds and extricates her mother from the captors but then is roughly captured herself and stands in need of rescue. Luckily for Jade, the dashing Sam Featherstone flies to her aid. Action packed, often implausible (Jade is a crack shot and carries a knife in her boot), this female Indiana Jones tale has you cheering by the storys predictable but nevertheless satisfying end.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)