Jack Heath's Reviews > Deadly Stakes

3 Stars. Good but I found the conclusion a touch too tidy. Ali Reynolds is an enjoyable lead in this series; its her empathy for others in difficult situations and her perseverance that I admire. As well as the difficult circumstances she always gets into. It includes a nice dollop of humour too. More later. There are two murders here. Are they related is the question. In no order, the body of James Mason Sanders, an ex-con and absentee father of a great young man, A.J., is found at a secluded site in the desert near Sedona, Arizona. Shot to death. Not far from him is another body, that of Gemma Ralston. Stabbed to death. Given the con's past and the proximity of the two bodies, they must be related, right? It can't be a coincidence, right? Because she doesn't have a Private Investigator licence, Ali falls back on her reporter experience, and pretends she's writing an article on the Ralston case. Now the humour, I laughed out loud when I read the reason Sanders estranged wife Sylvia gives for why he couldn't have killed Gemma. He's a romantic, she says, and that's the special place we used to go to have sex when we were teenagers! My kind of thinking. (Au2024)