Thicker Than Water

September 29, 2003
Straight-laced upstate New York news anchor Julie Jones has a deadly secret: 16 years earlier, as a teen runaway named Jewel, she fled the besieged burning compound of fanatic cult leader/drug dealer Mordecai Young, with his hidden fortune and her dying best friend's newborn child. Self-proclaimed "Reverend" Young and the rest of his cult, save two other "favorite" girls, perished in the attack by federal agents—or so Julie always thought. But when a blackmailer threatening to expose Julie is murdered and two former "favorite" girls turn up dead as well, it appears the messianic madman may be after the daughter Julie has raised as her own. Her only ally is sensationalist shock-jock radio reporter Sean MacKenzie, Julie's worst professional rival. Suspense thrums throughout due to Shane's (Twilight Hunger, etc.) seemingly effortless skill at teasing readers with surprising but believable plot turns. Just as suspenseful—in a different, delicious way—is the snappy sparring between the reluctantly paired co-anchors; romantic sparks fly between them as fast as witty insults, making this a tasty, tension-packed read.

July 1, 1991
San Francisco's phobia therapist and amateur sleuth Quinn Parker, welcomed in Blood Under the Bridge , confirms his appeal in his second adventure. Quinn jets to Jamaica with his old friend, neophyte comedian and fearful flier Hank Wilkie; Hank's college friend and godfather to his son Matty, Marty Greene, recently killed in an apparent drug bust, has left his family's island estate to the boy. Hank declines what seems a meager offer to buy the prime land near Priest River, a town where violence, including ghostly visitations and police beatings, has driven down the price of real estate. Back in San Francisco, Quinn begins to fall in love with Greene's widow, Stephanie, at the same time learning that the huge resort her wealthy brother secretly planned near Priest River had been stalled by Greene's unwillingness to sell. As murders accrue in both Jamaica and San Francisco, Quinn returns to Priest River and is shot at in the jungle. He joins forces with a dreadlocked, UCLA-educated lawyer to discover just who has been terrorizing property owners and why. Making the most of both of his settings, fleshing out familiar characters as well as new ones, Zimmerman highlights a distinctive cast in a skillfully plotted and smartly paced mystery.