Kissing Arizona by Elizabeth Gunn

 

First Line: Sarah blew off the phone entirely on the first ring.

 

Detective Sarah Burke and her colleagues in the Tucson Police Department have their hands full. Not only are they busy investigating the apparent murder-suicide of a husband and wife who were prominent local businesspeople, but they also have a case involving drug smugglers. The second case is particularly worrisome since the FBI has decided that they want a piece of the action.

One thing is certain: Sarah's getting very little sleep because her personal life is even more fraught than her professional one.

~

Every summer, I attempt to (1) get current with at least two of my favorite mystery series, and (2) continue one or two that, for some unknown reason, became abandoned along the path of my reading life. Elizabeth Gunn's Sarah Burke series is one of those abandoned ones, and for the life of me, I don't know why. I love the Tucson setting, I enjoy the mysteries that Gunn creates, and I certainly like the character of Sarah Burke. So as I sank into the pages of Kissing Arizona with a pleasurable sigh, I mentally kicked myself for taking so long to pick up this third book in the series.

The apparent murder-suicide of the prominent Tucson couple, although not difficult to solve, was still interesting as it navigated through a quagmire of family dynamics, and the drug case highlighted some of the problems all border states in this country deal with on a daily basis. What really grabbed my attention were two young girls: Sarah's twelve-year-old niece Denny and Vicky, a fifteen-year-old illegal immigrant.

 

Sarah's sister is a drug addict incapable of caring for her child; consequently, Sarah has become her niece's guardian. Since Sarah is an incredibly busy police detective, this only works with the help of Sarah's mother and Sarah's boyfriend. Seeing the world through Denny's eyes ("It was worth doing a lot of chores to live with Aunt Sarah.") can be heartbreaking, funny, and illuminating. Watching Sarah, her mother, her boyfriend, and Denny work together to make themselves a family is one of the best parts of Kissing Arizona.

 

The other "best part" is fifteen-year-old Vicky's story. Vicky was born in Mexico while her younger sister was born in Arizona; therefore, when Vicky's mother is deported, so is Vicky while the younger sister gets to stay in Tucson. At first, readers may not feel much sympathy for Vicky. She's the mouthy, rebellious one who fights all authority while the younger sister is studious and obeys all the rules. But as the story unfolds, Vicky's true character emerges. No matter what it takes, this young girl is determined to get back across the border to her Tucson home. How she deals with the trials and tribulations along her path makes her very special indeed.

 

If you like mysteries in which the lives of the characters are every bit as important as the mysteries themselves, do yourself a favor and pick up Elizabeth Gunn's Sarah Burke mysteries. Due to the character development, I would suggest beginning with the first book, Cool in Tucson (one of my Best Reads of 2010).

Kissing Arizona by Elizabeth Gunn

ISBN: 9781847512895 (Paperback edition. eBook no longer available.)

eBook, 208 pages

 

Police Procedural, #3 Sarah Burke mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Amazon. 

New River Blues by Elizabeth Gunn

First Line: The party was big and very noisy at first, two or three groups that didn't mix very well and laughed at everything so they'd know they were having fun.

Tucson police detective Sarah Burke is called out to a double homicide in a wealthy neighborhood. While the property developer husband is away on business, his party-loving wife winds up dead in bed along with the boy toy of the hour. While the crime scene investigators are hard at work, the teenage daughter sneaks in the house and walks into the bedroom where the murders took place. Who's going to take care of her? Where is her father? Why isn't he answering his cell phone? And who's going to get in touch with the son who's in boarding school?

While Sarah is trying to find answers to all these questions, she's also got a lot to deal with in her private life. She is caring for her substance-abusing sister's little daughter, whom Sarah loves very much. Sarah wants to become the girl's legal guardian, but her sister's going to make that a very tricky proposition. The man she loves is definitely a keeper, but her little niece refuses to let down her guard around him. Sarah's mother is a terrific help, but now Sarah can see that something's not right with the older woman.

Elizabeth Gunn has created a series in which the character's personal life is every bit as interesting as the mystery-- and like the man in Sarah's life, this mystery is definitely a keeper. From a wreck on Interstate 10 to a very shifty batch of caterers to the final reveal of the identity of the killer (I can't believe I didn't figure that out!), I found this book very difficult to put down-- which is exactly the way I felt about the first book in the series, Cool in Tucson. This series is definitely one to be savored for its Tucson setting, its fully fleshed characters, and its engrossing plots. I'm torn between wanting to gallop through the books as quickly as possible so I can keep up with what's happening to Sarah and her family... and wanting to space out each book very carefully so I won't be impatiently waiting for the next. Decisions, decisions!

New River Blues by Elizabeth Gunn

ISBN:  9781847511157

Severn House Publishers © 2009

Paperback, 214 pages

Police Procedural, #2 Sarah Burke mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

Cool in Tucson by Elizabeth Gunn

Title: Cool in Tucson
Author: Elizabeth Gunn
ISBN: 9781847510389
Publisher: Severn House, 2008
Paperback, 218 pages
Genre: Police Procedural, #1 Sarah Burke mystery
Rating: A+
Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen.

First Line: Didn't even plan it or nothin', Hector thought happily, heading east on I-10, and look how good it turned out.

After a nasty divorce, homicide detective Sarah Burke has been concentrating as much as she can on her job. She's ambitious and has her eye on her boss's job-- which may not be a good thing since her boss has been acting very strangely around her.

That all gets put in her rearview mirror when an early morning jogger trips over the body of a man who's been stabbed to death. Priority is placed on the identity of the victim, and when it's learned that he sold drugs, this fact almost raises more questions than it answers. You see, the victim was a very private, very clean living man who didn't drink, smoke, or partake of his product.

While trying to track down the killer, Sarah also has to deal with some personal issues in the form of a younger sister who goes in and out of substance abuse centers as though they all have revolving doors and her sister's neglected little daughter. All this pales into insignificance when Sarah's niece is kidnapped and Sarah learns that the kidnapping is linked to her murder case.

Reading this book was one of those serendipitous moments when everything fell into place: plot, characters, setting. I enjoyed the Tucson setting, although readers not familiar with the area may feel that Gunn names a few too many streets. Just when I thought I had the plot figured out, Gunn put an interesting spin on the murders that made the conclusion a surprise.

What really made the read for me were Gunn's characters: Hector, the gofer for the local druglord who wasn't nearly as smart as he thought he was; Sarah, working her way through minefields at home and at work; Sarah's sister Janine who never met an excuse she couldn't use to her own advantage; and rising head and shoulders above them all-- Sarah's ten-year-old niece Denny, a wise old soul who's had to learn how to get money for food, launder her clothes, get herself to school, and dodge her mother and the endless round of boyfriends when they're on their latest bender. All the characters-- even secondary ones--came to life for me as I read, but I wanted to grab Denny and take her home with me.

In Sarah Burke, Gunn has created a tough-yet-vulnerable female in the mold of characters brought to life by Muller, Grafton and Paretsky. After having such a wonderful reading experience with Cool in Tucson, I know I'll be looking for the rest of the books in this series.

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