Books Set in North America: United States: Arizona

Edge of Evil, by J.A. Jance (2006)  //  Ali Reynolds Series # 1

 

This is the first book in the Ali Reynolds mystery series.  The reader is introduced to Alison Reynolds.  She is 45 years old and a news anchor in Los Angeles.  After reporting on the news one day, she is abruptly fired.  Ostensibly it is because the station wants to go in a different direction, but it she is past her “sell-by” date.  At the same time, her marriage to her 2^nd husband is crumbling.  Her first husband died of cancer in his twenties, leaving her a young widow about to give birth to their child.  Twenty-two years later, she returns to her parents’ home in Arizona to decide what to do next.

 

She also has learned that her best friend from childhood has died.  Reenie had just been diagnosed with ALS.  One snowy night, she apparently drove her car over a cliff.  The police quickly determine that Reenie committed suicide, knowing of the ravages of ALS and wanting to spare her family the effects of the disease.  To Ali, however, the suicide just doesn’t seem to fit Reenie’s personality.  Still in her reporter mode, Ali begins asking questions.

 

She quickly learns that Reenie’s marriage was also on the rocks and that her husband had a girlfriend who was an open secret.  No sooner than Reenie has died, than the girlfriend moves into her home.

 

Ali’s son convinces Ali to start a blog.  In her blog, she begins to address domestic violence.  The book was written 15 years ago, when blogging and wide-spread of the internet was still fairly new.  It was amusing, therefore, to read the descriptions of Ali using the internet and creating her blog.  Technology has moved lightyears in the past 15 years!

 

The book was well written, but its purpose seemed primarily to introduce the reader to Ali Reynolds.  The mystery and solution of whether or not Reenie committed suicide seemed almost incidental to the novel.

 

Read: June 1, 2021

 

3 Stars

 

 

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Credible Threat, by J.A. Jance (2020)  //  Ali Reynolds Series # 15

 

This is the first book I have read by J.A. Jance, but it is the 15th book in her Ali Reynolds series.  The author spends some time providing the reader with some background from prior books in the series, but the novel can stand on its own.  Apparently in prior novels, Ali works with her husband B. Simpson in solving mysteries.  In this book, B. Simpson is abroad working on his own project, so Ali is left to work on her own to solve this mystery.

 

Rachel Higgins is a 70-year old woman whose marriage to a controlling husband has fallen apart.  When their only son, David, died of an overdose years earlier, her husband basically lost his will to go on.  He lost his job and spends his days making bird houses.  Rachel and her husband barely speak to each other.  The book begins when Rachel learns that David turned to drugs because he had been abused by a priest when in high school and he couldn’t confide in anyone.  

 

Rachel vows to take revenge upon the Church and her target is Francis Gillespie, the aged Archbishop in Phoenix, Arizona.  Little does she know that the Archbishop had taken a strong stand against the pedophilic priests in his diocese.  Rachel begins by sending the Archbishop threatening notes that she drops into the collection plates in a number of churches throughout the diocese.  The Archbishop went to the local police; however, he was told that the threats were not credible, hence, he turns to his friend Ali.

 

Rachel has gone to great lengths to create the “perfect” crime as she continues to plot her revenge on the Archbishop.  Can Ali stop Rachel before she kills?  Will Rachel’s husband come out of his shell and thwart Rachel’s plans?

 

Great literature this is not, however, it was a fun and quick read.  I will definitely go back and start reading this series from its first book.

 

Read:  May 7, 2021

 

4 Stars

 

Books Set in North America: United States: Arizona

The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver (1988)

This is a very quiet novel about everyday life of love and friendship.  The novel is mostly narrated by Marietta Greer, a young woman who reinvented herself and changee her name to Taylor when she left her home in Kentucky and headed for adventure.  When she made a stop in Oklahoma, near a Native American reservation, a Cherokee woman dropped a toddler into her beat-up VW Beatle and asked Taylor to take the baby.  Taylor did so without question.

Taylor knew nothing about the toddler and the child was in a catatonic state.  Because the baby clung to Taylor, Taylor began calling her Turtle.

Taylor drove on through the American West until she landed in Tucson, Arizona when her car broke down.  In Tucson, she became friends with Mattie, the woman who ran the auto repair shop and fixed up Taylor’s car.  After some time, Taylor began to realize that Mattie had a secret ~ that she was assisting undocumented immigrants find safe havens out of the State.

In the meantime, Taylor befriended Lou Ann, another young woman with a baby and an abandoned husband.  The two women shared a house and took turns taking care of each other’s respective children.

When the State became aware that Taylor was not the legal guardian of Turtle, Taylor must make a critical decision.

This is a short book, but it didn’t hold my interest.  

Read:  February 12, 2020

3 Stars

Books Set in the United States: Arizona and Oregon

Small Sacrifices: A True Story of Passion and Murder, by Ann Rule (1987)

In 1983, Elizabeth Diane Downs, who went by Diane, drove her car to the emergency room at a hospital in Oregon with her three bloodied children.  She claimed that a shaggy-haired would-be carjacker had shot her children when she stopped to offer the stranger assistance.  Seven-year-old Cheryl was dead and the other children, 8-year old Christie and 3-year old Danny, were seriously injured.  Miraculously, the two injured children survived.

Police initially searched for the carjacker, but the evidence didn't match up and soon led them to believe that Diane had shot her children.  As they probed into her background, they discovered that she had married young and had a disastrous marriage.  She had a string of affairs, and was particularly "in love" with Lew, a fellow postal worker.  Lew had indicated that he didn't want children, which may have provide the motive for Diane to eliminate her children.

The book goes into much detail about how the police and prosecutor put together their case.  The author used actual transcripts from the trial, which is riveting.

Read:  January 24, 2018

4 Stars