Perilous Waters

September 1, 2023
Jarrett Creek, a tiny town cooking under the West Texas sun, seems like a spot you drive though on your way to someplace important. You might sail past Chief of Police Samuel Craddock and imagine the poor fellow wasting away from boredom. Wrong! The hero and narrator of Shames' deceptively bucolic series of small-town procedurals really enjoys the crises others would find numbing. He rounds up pigs escaping their yard and goats eating a neighbor's garden because he knows that when awful things happen, the animals' owners can be sources of crucial information. And awful things really do start happening. An expansion of a local feed-corn business reveals a long-hidden corpse. Craddock's attempts to learn the who and why of the cadaver in an investigation slowed by a stop at a church social for chitchat and baked goods is blind-sided by the discovery of another, much fresher dead body. Readers of Shames' earlier Craddock adventures, including A Risky Undertaking for Loretta Singletary (2019), will expect, and get, shocking revelations.

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March 1, 2024
Sun, sand, sex, and murder make Shames' series starter the perfect escapist caper. Jessie Madison's father was killed when she was a teenager, and she's spent her life taking care of her alcoholic mom and drug-addicted sister. Her lifelong ambition is to become an FBI agent, so she's thrilled when she's accepted in the bureau's training course. But then she has to rescue her sister yet again, this time from a murder rap, and she's kicked out of the course. In despair, Jessie takes a job in the Bahamas to figure out what's next in her train wreck of a life. Then she meets handsome boat captain Johnny, and soon she's involved in kidnapping, murder, and a jewel heist worth millions. The jewel thieves blame her when the heist goes sour, two mysterious men are following her, and the cops are in pursuit. Her only recourse? A dangerous-seeming guy called Nick, who claims he's a legit agent trying to catch the jewel thieves. The action is fast and furious, and there's even a happyish ending in this entertaining, keep-'em-guessing read featuring a feisty, likable heroine.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 1, 2024
A smart, tough woman gets into big trouble. Ever since problems with her alcoholic mother and drug-addicted sister washed her out of the FBI's diver training program, Jessie Madison has worked as a dive instructor in the Bahamas. When her roommate, Shelley, is given a free weekend for two at a new resort on Trophy Cay, they hook up with boat captain Johnny Durand and his friend Nick Garnier, who seems too focused to be enjoying the tropical retreat. Johnny, who's moving a catamaran for a wealthy couple, invites Jessie for a short night trip to a nearby cay. Soon after they've dropped anchor and begun to canoodle, three men in a powerboat board the cat and beat Johnny. When he refuses to give them what they want, Johnny and Jessie are tied together, wrapped in chain, and thrown overboard. Jessie's training allows her to hold her breath just long enough to break free, but she can't revive Johnny. Finding a battered windsurfing board, she manages to paddle back to the resort only to find that Shelley's checked out and taken all her things, leaving Jessie dependent on the enigmatic Nick, whom she suspects of smuggling. Desperate, she finally tells Nick the truth about what happened to Johnny. In response, Nick vanishes, and the only way Jessie can get back to Nassau is by stealing the catamaran from under the noses of the killers and making the dangerous trip at night. Then things go from bad to worse. A page-turning thriller with hints of romance and future adventures.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 8, 2024

The first Jessie Madison adventure is a huge change for the author of the Macavity Award-winning Samuel Craddock mysteries. Dive instructor Jessie was kicked out of the FBI training program after she covered for her sister, who killed her drug dealer boyfriend. Jessie has been in the Bahamas for three months and wants one more fling before returning to Virginia to jumpstart her life. She's on a boat with Johnny, the captain, when three men come on board, and abuse Johnny to learn where he hid a backpack. Jessie and Johnny are chained together and thrown overboard. Jessie's dive training allows her to survive, but she has to untangle herself from Johnny's body. She can't untangle herself so easily from the three men, international jewel thieves, or from the drug dealer connections who want to kill her because of her sister. Jessie tries to escape by stealing a boat, hiding from the criminals, and contacting the police. It takes all of her ingenuity, and help from a friend of Johnny's, a man she isn't sure she can trust, to escape. VERDICT The fast-paced novel featuring a resourceful young woman will appeal to fans of McGyver.--Lesa Holstine

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