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At first glance, it appears to be an accident . . . A car carrying an elderly couple goes off the side of a mountain and tumbles into oblivion on a beautiful sunny day in the Coronado National Monument. A note pulled from the twisted wreckage suggests the tragedy may have been a double suicide—but an autopsy later suggests something different. A deadly fire and a fatal home invasion may or may not have some connection to the terrible crash. And miles away in the desert, a savage rain has revealed something grisly and terrifying: two trash bags filled with human remains. It's just another day in the life of Cochise County sheriff Joanna Brady, who must somehow balance the rigors of police work with a newborn, a teenager, a writer-husband, and a difficult mother. But Joanna will not allow murder to go unpunished in her jurisdiction—even if her path to the truth is twisting and dangerous . . . and leads to shocking revelations about those entrusted with caring for the helpless. ### From Publishers Weekly Sheriff Joanna Brady and her staff face a host of challenges while her husband, Butch, tends their infant son in bestseller Jance's solid 13th novel to feature the Cochise County, Ariz., cop (after *Dead Wrong*). A woman shoots a home intruder, an elderly couple drive their car off a cliff and a mysterious fire kills an older man and leaves three homeless. Were these accidents or something more sinister? When Det. Jaime Carbajal's nephew discovers a body in the desert, the investigation leads to a shady organization that operates halfway houses for troubled and disabled persons. Meanwhile, Joanna must deal with her interfering mother, who exhibits a sudden personality change, and the discovery of family secrets about her late father and late first husband. As usual, Jance beautifully evokes the desert and towns of her belovedsouthwest as well as the strong individuals who live there. *10-city author tour. (Aug.)* Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ### From Booklist Cochise County, Arizona, Sheriff Joanna Brady is a sleep-deprived new mother working long hours on several investigations. An elderly couple’s car soars over the guardrail at Montezuma Pass Overlook. Were their deaths suicide, or is something more sinister going on? The couple’s feuding daughters add complications. Meanwhile, a teenager, a nephew of one of Joanna’s deputies, finds skeletal remains in a garbage bag and later turns up missing. On the home front, Joanna and her husband, author Butch Dixon, must share child-care duties, while Joanna also deals with her rocky relationship with her mother, who is at odds with Joanna’s stepfather, the county medical examiner. Police procedure, county budget woes, and the problems inherent in law-enforcement agencies cooperating with one another frame the fast-paced mystery. This thirteenth in a series ends with substantive changes coming to Joanna’s department. --Sue O'Brien