Daisy at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

While a large storm front moved through northern Arizona, bringing snow and rain, Daisy, Denis, and I headed southeast to Tucson and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. This is one of my favorite places to visit; you never know what you're going to see. As its name suggests, it showcases the flora and fauna of the Sonoran Desert. Part botanical garden, part zoo, if it's not native to this desert, you're not going to find it here. If I lived in Tucson, I'd be a regular visitor.

The following photographs show our meander through the museum. I hope you enjoy your visit!

Doesn't look like a typical museum, does it?

To get here, you have to drive through a saguaro forest, which is another plus.

Daisy at the vulture exhibit. That's quite a wingspan!

Many of the animals, like this mule deer, looked ready for their siesta.

Sleepy Gambel's quail

The museum is divided into the various habitats you can find in the Sonoran Desert.

Daisy at the prairie dog exhibit.

All sorts of things were in bloom.

Including Arizona's state flower, the saguaro blossom.

This is the first time Denis & I had ever seen buds on a teddy bear cholla.

Daisy Doolittle talking to a disinterested squirrel. The squirrels didn't seem to need naps.

These signs were posted everywhere, but I wonder how many people actually pay attention to them.

He tried to play it cool, but I could feel this chuckwalla watching me.

Daisy and Denis leading the way.

She tried to walk down a path just as this guy was trying to cross it. Can you see it?

A Western Diamondback Rattlesnake AKA Mr. Grumpy. Daisy heard its warning rattle, didn't panic and returned to us. Smart girl! Before you think I'm an idiot for taking this photo, let me just say that my camera has a 60X zoom lens!

This second chuckwalla watched me get separated from my pack.

I wound up in the cactus garden.

Rainbow Hedgehog Cactus

Dwarf Organ Pipe Cactus

Dwarf Organ Pipe Cactus blooms

Broad-billed Hummingbird in the Hummingbird Aviary.

Hummingbird nest-- empty. They are marvels of construction!

Hummingbird nest-- occupied by the sleepy owner.

Living in the desert has given me a much greater appreciation of trees.

Hope you enjoyed your visit to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum; I know we certainly did-- and that includes meeting Mr. Grumpy!

Dance of the Bones by J.A. Jance

First Line: Amos Warren walked with his shoulders stooped and with his eyes and mind focused on the uneven ground beneath his feet.

Brandon Walker and The Last Chance have a tough assignment: to take another look at the investigation, trial, and conviction of John Lassiter. Years ago Walker arrested Lassiter for the murder of prospector Amos Warren. A plea deal is on the table for Lassiter that would release him from prison with time served. Lassiter has always maintained his innocence, and instead of accepting the deal, he's demanding Walker take another, deeper, look. 

When Walker discovers that there are connections between Lassiter's case and an unsolved one in Seattle, he asks J.P. Beaumont for help. The case gets red hot when two boys from the reservation go missing. Walker and Beaumont are going to have to work fast to keep the two youngsters alive.

As a rule I love J.A. Jance's books, but Dance of the Bones is not one of her best-- and J.P. Beaumont fans will be disappointed, since he plays a crucial (but very small) role.

Jance's Walker family series set in the Tucson, Arizona area have always used many legends of the Tohono O'odham people. Normally I enjoy reading them, but in this case they kept dragging me out of the story-- even if they did pertain to two of my favorite characters, Gabe Ortiz and Lani Walker-Pardee. Speaking of characters, the bad guy needed  to be more hands-on. Always having minions doing the dirty work sapped the killer's evil mojo. Instead of fear or anxiety, I felt irritation.

With so many interconnected loops of plot, reading Dance of the Bones was like stepping in the middle of a nest of rattlesnakes. Lots of distraction, occasional confusion, and a feeling that the story didn't live up to the often beautiful way Jance uses the English language.
   

Dance of the Bones by J.A. Jance

ISBN: 9780062297662

William Morrow © 2015

Hardcover, 368 pages

Police Procedural, #5 Walker Family mystery

Rating: B

Source: Purchased from Book Outlet 


 

Fear the Darkness by Becky Masterman

First Line: There is near complete darkness, yes, but it's the least of my problems.

Ex-FBI agent Brigid Quinn has left the psychos behind her. She enjoys her life in Tucson, Arizona, with her new husband, her friends, and her volunteer work teaching self-defense at a women's shelter. All she wants to do is to concentrate on this sweet new life, but she just can't seem to catch a break. When her sister-in-law dies, Brigid takes in her seventeen-year-old niece, Gemma Kate. 

When Gemma Kate moves in, Brigid's life begins to unravel. There's something unsettling about the young girl, and when Brigid promises a couple to help investigate the death of their son, that isn't as simple as she thought it would be. All of a sudden her house is no longer a haven, and danger-- including murder-- seems to lurk around every corner. 

Once again, Becky Masterman begins a book by putting her main character in a very scary situation. This time, the situation is sometime in the near future. Then she takes readers back to the present so we can wonder how Brigid got herself into that mess. As the story progresses, we see how it happened... and now it's time for us to wonder how she's going to get herself out of danger. It's a formula that works, due almost entirely to the strength of the tough, smart, older woman, Brigid Quinn.

In Fear the Darkness, we're seeing Brigid when she isn't at her best. What's wrong with her? Is she imagining things? Is Gemma Kate a psychopath? Is the death of the couple's young son really suicide, or is it murder? Masterman poses a lot of questions throughout the story, and discovering the answers turns out to be a most enjoyable undertaking. It's always fascinating to me to wonder if a strong, intelligent character has suddenly turned into an unreliable narrator, and if so, to deduce the reason why. 

The only thing that slightly marred the book for me was the fact that I deduced the villain of the piece much too early. I have a nose for certain elements in a mystery. (For example, if someone's dead, I want to "see" the body.) But even though I knew whodunit, Fear the Darkness is still an excellent study of personalities and a thrilling, fast-paced tale to read. Brigid is a marvelous character who is incapable of giving up. Bring on book three!
   

Fear the Darkness by Becky Masterman

ISBN: 9780143182689

Penguin Canada © 2015

Paperback, 336 pages

Thriller, #2 Brigid Quinn mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Book Outlet.   


 

Rage Against the Dying by Becky Masterman

First Line: From his idling van atop the Golder Ranch Road bridge, Gerald Peasil examined his next girlfriend.

Brigid Quinn used to hunt sexual predators for the FBI, but she was pushed into early retirement. She tells herself she's settling into the next phase of her life nicely with her new husband and their dogs down in Tucson, Arizona-- and she would have been if Floyd Lynch hadn't confessed to the worst unsolved case of Brigid's career.

Lynch knows things about the disappearance and presumed murder of Brigid's young protégée that were never made public, but the new FBI agent on the case thinks the confession is fake. It doesn't matter that Brigid is retired; she's just realized that she cannot walk away. Not from this one. It's too personal.

Our introduction to Brigid Quinn in the prologue of Rage Against the Dying is a memorable one. When prologue flows into first chapter, we know we are embarking on a journey with an unforgettable character. Brigid Quinn is fierce, uncompromising, and unflinchingly original. She is as far from being a normal "woman of a certain age" as the Earth is from Saturn. She's seen too much, and she's done too much; but what put me firmly in her camp come what may is the fact that this intelligent, strong woman looking sixty straight in the eye is an almost complete novice at relationships with other people. Every hero should have a flaw, and Brigid's carries the potential for a lot of damage.

The man she's fallen in love with is a wonderful character, and although we see him through Brigid's eyes, we're given hints that he isn't quite the man she believes him to be. This fledgling relationship adds so much to the story!

Speaking of the story-- it's completely engrossing. Once I started reading, I didn't come up for air until I'd turned the last page. The hunt for the killer and the killer's final reveal? Fabulous. When I was finished reading, I sat for a few minutes with my eyes closed, simply holding the book and savoring what I'd just experienced. What fuels me as a reader are characters and stories. Becky Masterman has delivered both in superb style. Now I'm an addict and getting my hands on the next Brigid Quinn book has become a necessity!
 

Rage Against the Dying by Becky Masterman

ISBN: 9781250038166

Minotaur Books © 2014

Paperback, 320 pages

Thriller, #1 Brigid Quinn

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased from Book Outlet


 

Through a Glass, Deadly by Sarah Atwell

First Line: "Nessa? It's pretty quiet, so I think I'm going to work on that new frit technique. You can close up when you're ready to go."

Emmeline Dowell has carved a life for herself amongst the artists of Tucson's Warehouse District. Her shop, Shards, is getting more business, and so many people are signing up for her glassblowing classes that she's going to have to make time for even more. What she doesn't need is trouble, but that's what Em gets when she takes Allison McBride under her wing. When Allison's estranged husband shows up dead in Em's studio, the glassblower finds herself working overtime to help her new friend.

Reading Through a Glass, Deadly was a case of seeing problems yet liking the book a lot anyway. There were little things like an accent that was mentioned but didn't show up until much later in the book, Chicago mobsters who seemed a tad schizophrenic (did they have scruples or were they psychopaths?), a gratuitous murder, and a character who shows up at the end with answers to many of Em's questions. Sounds like more than a little when it comes to problems, doesn't it? Well, what makes me call them little is the fact that the Tucson, Arizona setting, all the information on glassblowing, and-- more than anything else-- the character of Em Dowell are so enjoyable that I willingly overlooked them. 

A lot can be forgiven-- not that there's all that much to forgive in this book-- when the main character is so well drawn. Em is a mother hen. She dotes on two dogs she rescued from the pound, and she takes all sorts of people under her wing when she can see they need help. And she's not pushy or in-your-face about it. She's just the type of friend you'd like to have. Hardworking, smart, caring, funny. This book is written from Em's point of view, and I really enjoyed being in her head. She even handles herself rather well in a very scary situation, and has a wonderful geeky brother and a handsome police chief who's very interested in her.

How much do I like Em Dowell? I've already ordered the second book in this series. Nagging plot points can be fixed, but characters like Em are few and far between.

Through a Glass, Deadly by Sarah Atwell

ISBN: 9780425220474

Berkley Prime Crime © 2008

Mass Market Paperback, 288 pages

Cozy Mystery, #1 Glassblowing mystery

Rating: B-

Source: Paperback Swap 

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.

Queen of the Night by J.A. Jance

Title: Queen of the Night
Author: J.A. Jance
ISBN: 9780061239243
Publisher: William Morrow, 2010
Hardcover, 368 pages
Genre: Suspense, #4 Walker family mystery
Rating: A
Source: Purchased from Amazon.

First Line: They say it happened long ago that a young woman of the Tohono O'odam, the Desert People, fell in love with a Yaqui warrior, a Hiakim, and went to live with his people, far to the South.

Every summer in the Tohono O'odam Nation, the flowering of the night-blooming cereus-- the Queen of the Night-- is celebrated, but this year a man and his wife are murdered during their own private celebration, and a little girl loses the only family she's ever known.

To the little girl's rescue come Dr. Lani Walker, who sees similarities to her own childhood trauma in Angie, and Dan Pardee, an Iraq war veteran and a member of an unorthodox border patrol unit called the Shadow Wolves. With the aid of Pima County homicide detective Brian Fellows, they must keep the child safe while tracking down a killer.

Meanwhile retired homicide detective Brandon Walker-- stepfather to both Dr. Lani Walker and Detective Brian Fellows-- is investigating a cold case involving the murder of an Arizona State University coed. These two cases have the power to tear three families to shreds.

I have long been a fan of Jance's Joanna Brady series set in Bisbee, Arizona. Jance grew up in Bisbee, and her knowledge and affection infuse the setting with a very special quality. The Walker family series (Hour of the Hunter, Kiss of the Bees, Day of the Dead, Queen of the Night), set in Tucson and the Tohono O'odam Nation, reflect another stage in the author's life when she taught on the reservation.

Once again Jance deftly weaves together the two plot lines, imbuing both with a palpable sense of urgency and danger. Her characters in this series are not ten feet tall and bullet-proof; bad things can and do happen to them, and this adds to that sense of danger. One of the highlights of this series for me is the way that Jance incorporates Tohono O'odam teachings and legends into her storylines.

Yes, this book is the fourth in a series, but it's not necessary to read the first three in order to make sense of what's going on in Queen of the Night. Don't be surprised, however, if you read this book and then immediately want to find the others. They are always on my list of recommendations for anyone who wants to read well-crafted mysteries that give a true sense of southern Arizona.

Buy from Amazon.

Buy from The Book Depository.

Buy from an Indie Bookseller.