In this series starter from Graves (a.k.a.
Welcome Home, Stranger author Kate Christensen), ecological despoilment and emotional trauma are entangled in a case that leads back to teen secrets. Jo Bailen works for an all-women private detective agency based in Tucson, AZ. She’s just finishing a case when her boss sends her back into her own past: Delphi, where Laura Gold is afraid for her missing daughter, Rose Delaney. Rose and Jo were childhood best friends, but they’ve been estranged since age 14. Laura believes that only Jo can find Rose, who’s been gone for two days. Jo follows the police to the site where Rose’s body has been found hanging from a tree, and police officer Tyler Bridgewater is vomiting. It was Rose, Jo, and Tyler’s triangular relationship that caused their teen trauma and estrangement. Now, 26 years later, Tyler’s involvement in investigating Rose’s death raises Jo’s suspicions. She thinks Rose tried to prevent a land scam that affected a local artists’ community, which might have led to her murder.
VERDICT This desert noir features complex characters trapped in an ugly, emotional past. The vivid details and beauty of the Arizona landscape are in sharp contrast to the repellent secrets of a killer.
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