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. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2008]