Review: Original and entertaining
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 3, 2012
"A breeze had sprung up, worrying the edges of the Jeep's windows. A crow, its rusty voice harsh in the stillness, rowed to a nearby fencepost and folded its wings." ExcerptTucson Arizona naturalist photographer, Alex Carifarelli, is called to the aid of a childhood friend. Someone she hasn't seen in years, but then, Caroline Arnet's life is a luminous star with a life that revolves around a glamorous Hollywood life, and these two grown women now have little in common. Except, that Caroline has incredible secrets. And, when Alex finally gets to the secluded Hotel Sonora where the movie crew is staying, she's surprised to see the normally elfin beauty thin, drawn and shaken by the threats of a stalker who appears to be closing in.But in less than a day Caroline has been accidently killed when the prop gun's ammo has been switched with live rounds.  Feeling overwhelmed and terribly sad at her friend's death, Alex heads for the mountains where she hopes to get some photos of an elusive, and perhaps extinct, Jaguaranda.As the story unfolds, Alex is only drawn ever deeper into the investigation and because of her own recent unhappy divorce, she's reluctant to trust anyone, and certainly not the handsome sheriff deputy, Nick McCutcheon. But, time and a killer teach Alex that she has to trust someone, and Nick is the most likely ally in helping her bring Caroline's killer to justice.The story isn't linear and neither are the characters. The author gives the reader subplots that appear to have a life of their own until they converge at the exciting conclusion. I also appreciated that there are no innocents here; Maybelle Deering, the crusty, weather beaten rancher who rescues and rehabilitates hurt animals, Ted, Caroline's grieving husband, the strange prop man Booker Purlie, Luther the leading man, the director, and everyone else who might have had a grudge against Caroline.A complex story told with originality and style.