Devil's Claw by J.A. Jance

Devil's Claw by J.A. Jance

Features
e-book (Adobe Reader)

Amazon.com
A missing teenager and an octogenarian found dead of apparently natural causes are pretty run-of-the-mill cases in Bisbee, Arizona, where Sheriff Joanna Brady is focusing on the last-minute details of her upcoming wedding. In this latest outing in Judith Jance's Brady series, the connection between the two events is a thin one. In the author's capable hands, however, it's enough to drive this well-plotted mystery to a credible conclusion.

Fifteen-year-old Lucy Ridder dreads her mother's release from prison, eight years after she was convicted of killing Lucy's beloved father. Lucy is aware that her mother's priority is not a family reunion but the retrieval of a mysterious diskette entrusted to Lucy by her dad shortly before his death. After inadvertently witnessing her mother's brutal slaying by a stranger who's also hot after the diskette, Lucy vanishes. It takes most of the novel for Joanna to figure out that Lucy's disappearance is tied to her mother's murder, and for good reasons. Besides the distraction of her pending nuptials, the sheriff has been accused of killing her elderly, beloved neighbor for financial gain. Because the reader knows the truth of both situations very early in the game, Joanna's delayed awareness doesn't pack as much wallop as it might. The greater mystery is whether she'll strangle her wedding-obsessed mother before she and her too-good-to-be-true fiancé make it to the altar. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.



Reader Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: Superb, January 8, 2003 Reviewer: apoem from Bosque Farms, NM USA This whole series is really a joy to read. The author can take Joanna from introspection to inspection of a crime scene in a few pages with very little problem in the transition. Although each book can be read on it's own as a stand alone novel, I have had much satisfication of reading them in order and watching the characters grow and change in each book. This book lives up to the reputation of the author. Joanna is planning her wedding, Butch is really, and chasing the bad guys at the same time. A young girl is missing, her mother, recently out of jail is murdered and the story begins. The characters are believable and the story is tightly woven and thrilling. Well worth reading.