Devil Dance by Suzanne Arruda

First Line: Jade grabbed her companion's arm and yanked her out of the street.

Jade del Cameron and Sam Featherstone are going to be married, and Jade's parents have split them up for a little pre-wedding business. Richard and Sam are going on safari while Inez is taking her daughter shopping in Zanzibar. What could possibly go wrong?

How about slavery and witchcraft on the neighboring island of Pemba....

I have read every single one of Suzanne Arruda's Jade del Cameron mysteries, and I've watched the series grow from rather light-hearted adventure yarns into something much more substantive that gave me a real feel for the time period and the culture. When I saw Arruda had published Devil Dance, you had to know that I snapped it up immediately.

Arruda has created a good mystery with an excellent sense of misdirection. It was also a wonderful idea to split the engaged couple and pair each one with one of Jade's parents. In this way we become better acquainted with Jade's father Richard as well as Sam. Jade's mother Inez isn't as much of a mystery since she has appeared in other books. She and her daughter are so much alike that their time together can be a bit obstreperous.  In addition, there are several  humorous scenes as each couple begins having its share of adventures. 

The serious part of the book concerns slavery, and how-- although it had been made illegal quite some time ago-- some people are still involved in the sale of human beings. As I said earlier, these books aren't just light-hearted fun; the author really gives you a feel for the time and place, and this makes me enjoy her writing even more.

The tension in Devil Dance grows, and it's a given that the two couples are going to wind up in the same place eventually. The only question is... which couple is going to be saving the other?  

If you're new to the series, I think you could read this book and not be hopelessly confused. But if you enjoy good historical mysteries with interesting characters and a vivid sense of place, I suggest you begin at the beginning with  Mark of the Lion.

 

Devil Dance by Suzanne Arruda

ASIN: B00U53VSI0

Suzanne Arruda © 2015

eBook, 246 pages

Historical Mystery, #7 Jade del Cameron mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.


 

The Crocodile's Last Embrace by Suzanne Arruda

Title: The Crocodile's Last Embrace
Author: Suzanne Arruda
ISBN: 9780451231178
Publisher: Obsidian, 2010
Paperback, 400 pages
Genre: Historical, #6 Jade del Cameron mystery
Rating: A
Source: Paperback Swap

First Line: From his hidden vantage point, the man watched the young American woman called Simba Jike.


Returning from a rather ill-advised trip to Europe where all destinations did nothing but dredge up painful memories, Jade del Cameron greets the sight of Kenya with two certainties: Africa is her home, and Sam Featherstone is the man she wants to spend her life with. When a letter arrives, Jade hopes it's from Sam, telling her the date of his return. Instead, she finds a message written in the hand of her long-dead fiance, asking "Why did you let me die?"

After witnessing a car going off a bridge and having more deaths follow, Jade begins an investigation that she believes is tied in with a fraudulent gold mine scheme, but when she learns that her old nemesis, Lilith Worthy has escaped from an English prison, Jade knows the case has just turned every bit as deadly as that huge, hungry crocodile that's been hanging around the foot of Fourteen Falls.

Although this Biscuit fan thought the cheetah was cheated out of his share of the spotlight in this book, I really did enjoy The Crocodile's Last Embrace. Arruda continues to draw more and more news and information of the period and the surrounding colonies into the books to give the reader an excellent sense of what life was like in Africa in the early twentieth century. For instance, this time we learned what Leopold, King of the Belgians, had his minions doing in the Congo.

These books just about have it all for me-- probably because I fell in love with and watched "Out of Africa" at least once per week while it was in the theatres here in Phoenix. To have an ongoing series of books dealing with roughly the same time frame, the same land, the wildlife, the early days of aviation and photojournalism is a delight.

The delight does not end with the aforementioned list. Arruda has a cast of characters that continues to adapt and grow with each new experience. Of course the major changes belong to Sam and Jade as these two fiercely independent people have to figure out if they can truly be together, but they aren't the only two who've changed through the passage of books. Just ask Jelani, the young Kikuyu boy befriended by Jade.

Speaking of younger characters, the young band of Girl Guides that Lady Dunbury is trying to gather under her wing? They're a hoot. Whenever those youngsters appeared, they made me laugh. I certainly hope they'll make another appearance in Jade's next adventure. I'll be looking for them (and Biscuit)!

The one thing most readers want to know about a book in a series is can they pick it up, read it, and not get confused if they haven't read any of the other books? In the case of The Crocodile's Last Embrace, readers should not have a problem, since Arruda included enough information from previous books to fill in the gaps.

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Treasure of the Golden Cheetah by Suzanne Arruda

Title: Treasure of the Golden Cheetah
Author: Suzanne Arruda
ISBN: 9780451227898
Publisher: NAL Hardcover, 2009
Hardcover, 368 pages
Genre: Historical, Amateur Sleuth, #5 Jade del Cameron mystery
Rating: A
Source: Purchased from Bookcloseouts.

First Line: The woman astride the poppy red Indian Power Plus motorcycle would have been considered beautiful in many cultures.

When I saw that there was a new Jade del Cameron mystery out, I knew I was running behind. Sure enough, there was Treasure of the Golden Cheetah sitting on my shelves staring balefully out at me. Although I do try to keep one unsampled volume of favorite mystery series on hand, I don't want to get too far behind the story. Off the shelf came the book, and I began to read.

It's Kenya in 1920, and Jade finds herself hired on as second-in-command on a safari run by Harry Hascombe. Hascombe has agreed to take a Hollywood film crew to Mt. Kilimanjaro to make a movie based on an ancient legend of King Solomon's lost treasure. Before they even have a chance to leave Nairobi, the producer is stabbed to death by a native who then commits suicide. This death throws a pall over the entire expedition which, once it begins to climb Kilimanjaro's slopes, is beset by deadly hoaxes and serious accidents. Before this is all over, Jade will be glad that she's accompanied by the young healer Jelani and her pet cheetah, Biscuit.

At one time I referred to these books as a guilty pleasure and my "Saturday Matinee Reading". It is past time for me to say that they have involved into much more than that. Jade-- although still talented, beautiful and headstrong-- no longer behaves as though she's ten feet tall and bulletproof. Arruda has done an excellent job in researching the area and the era. (For example, this book had the added bonus of showing us what train travel was like in the Africa of 1920.)  The character of the young Kikuyu, Jelani, not only gives us a look at native life and customs but allows us to see how natives were treated by the white people who ruled the roost.

I enjoy the early motorcycles and airplanes, and being on safari with a Hollywood crew of actors and technicians was in turn funny and exasperating, as Jade discovered: "Sweet Millard Fillmore. Can't these people be left alone for more than five minutes without someone having a hissy fit?"

An added, enjoyable, plot thread is the relationship between Jade and pilot/ filmmaker Sam Featherstone. Both of them are a bit too stubborn for their own good. Neither of them want to live alone. They love each other. But Sam won't think outside the box and Jade refuses to even look inside the box as far as making that final commitment to each other.

This entire series has been a fascinating journey, and I can't wait for it to continue in the next book, The Crocodile's Last Embrace.

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The Leopard's Prey by Suzanne Arruda

Title: The Leopard's Prey
Author: Suzanne Arruda
ISBN: 9780451225863, Obsidian, 2009
Genre: Amateur Sleuth, #4 Jade del Cameron mystery
Rating: B+

First Line: I'll be fine.

Jade del Cameron is working for an American outfit that's capturing wild animals to take them to zoos in the United States. Shortly after acting as leopard bait, Jade finds the body of a local merchant on a coffee plantation owned by two of her friends. The chief suspect is the man in love with Jade-- Sam Featherstone, an American pilot and filmmaker. Dissatisfied with the way the investigation is going, Jade begins to look into things and discovers that the dead man had his fingers in the sort of pies that would make other people very angry. All Jade has to do is narrow down the list of real suspects. Of course she can never seem to do this without stirring up a bit of trouble: "Can we not leave you alone for a minute, Jade, without your getting kidnapped or involved in something unseemly?" asked Beverly.

In a review of an earlier book in this series, I called Arruda's books my "Saturday matinee reading". The primary reason for this being one of my favorite series has always been escapism. Jade grew up on a ranch in New Mexico. She knows how to ride and how to shoot and how to pitch a tent. She's a former World War I nurse who learned how to take care of her ambulance while shells were bursting all around and wounded men were screaming for help. Now she's in Kenya as a photojournalist, and she's learning to fly. She goes out into the country for a ride on her motorcycle in order to give her cheetah, Biscuit, some quality exercise. Although I have to admit that the idea of going for a run out in the country with my cheetah definitely has its allure, this series is growing into something more.

The "more" is how Arruda shows Kenya and the rest of Africa changing. Populations are exploding in the cities, and as the cities grow out, the wildlife is being chased further and further away. Arruda also begins showing readers the native Kikuyus' unrest as they are required to carry identity papers and travel documents at all times as well as pay the dreaded hut tax. The longer Jade stays in Africa, the more she learns about the people and the land, and we learn right along with her. This time, we learn about the Maasai when Jade crash lands in a plane. Arruda includes several tidbits of Maasai wisdom and folklore in the book, such as the following:

"So you hunt for animals for the white men to take, you hunt for a killer, and you hunt for his wife," Tajewo shook his head. "It is not good to do too much at once. We have a saying. A man cannot walk on two different paths at the same time. It will crack his buttocks."

I like the path these books are taking, away from strictly escapist fare and into a truer depiction of the area and the time. Murder, wildlife, colonial Africa, native customs, and a budding romance-- all this and more is to be found in The Leopard's Prey. The next book in the series, Treasure of the Golden Cheetah, is available starting today. It won't be long until I have my hands on a copy!

Review--The Serpent's Daughter

Title: The Serpent's Daughter
Author: Suzanne Arruda
ISBN: 9780451222947/ Obsidian, 2008
Genre: Historical Mystery, #3 in the Jade del Cameron series
Rating: B+

First Line: "One should never trust the shopkeepers," declared a young man seated across from Jade.

When I picked up the first book in this series, Mark of the Lion, I fell in love. Jade del Cameron, a young American who grew up on a New Mexico ranch, learned how to repair automobiles while driving an ambulance in France during World War I. Ranch life taught her about roughing it out in the wild, being an expert shot with a gun, refusing to put up with fools, and wanting some adventure and meaning in her life. It's now the early 1920s, and Jade is finding that adventure and meaning as a photojournalist in Africa.

With this third book in the series, I find my love affair continuing. Jade has agreed to meet her mother in Morocco in an attempt to patch up their stormy relationship. Her mother, Inez, grew up in Spain dancing with gypsies and riding horses better than anyone else. Now she's a tightly corseted society matron, more concerned with etiquette and the proper clothing to wear for each occasion. Nothing her fiercely independent daughter does is right. Their meeting in Morocco starts off on the wrong foot, but before there's time for any repair work to be done, Inez is kidnapped, and Jade has to find her. Jade's search takes her through Morocco, from Tangier to Marrakesh to a Berber village high in the Atlas Mountains, dodging drug smugglers, slave traders and an old adversary every step of the way.

Although Arruda does provide a great deal of period detail in her books (and I actually learn while I turn the pages), I have to admit that I read them for the sheer escapism. These books are my "Saturday Matinee" reads, reminding me of Tarzan, Indiana Jones, Frank Buck, Karen Blixen, Denis Finch-Hatton, and Beryl Markham. Fans of the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters would probably enjoy them, too. I like to read serious literature-- history, biography, current events, etc.-- but sometimes I just want to have fun when I read. When those times occur, there are few books better than a Jade del Cameron mystery by Suzanne Arruda.