New sherriff Joanna Brady finds terror at the Arizona Police Officer Academy. She must solve multiple homicides before she becomes a victim. Will she live? Hint: there are more books to come. This is not a whodunit. The reader will not know the killer's identity until our hero finds him.

Joanna Brady has been sworn in as the new sheriff of Cochise County. She realizes that she has no experience in the law-enforcement business so she goes to a police academy with a class full of rookie cops. While there she befriends LeAnn, the only other woman in the class. They serve as support for one another in the face of instructor Dave Thompson who tends to teach by intimidation. She also takes time to investigate a murder at the request of the accused murderer's mother. The case is outside her jurisdiction, but that doesn't stop Joanna. A series of brutal murders occur which eventually intrude into Joanna's life. The murderers seem obvious, but Joanna isn't so sure. Through her investigation, the identity of the real murderer is revealed. This is more concise than some of the books in this series and is well-paced. I recommend it.

I have been reading this series in order. Although each book can stand alone, later books reference earlier books and it is, in my opinion, much more enjoyable to read them in order so you know the complete history.

Having said all of that, this is the best book I have read to date in this series.

Joanna was elected sherrif and is off for training. By doing a favor for a friend of a friend, she runs into a serial killer that has escaped detection for many years. There is a touch, just a tiny touch, of romance. There is also a very stressful period of time when her daughter has been kidnapped and the kidnapper has killed himself and the police are searching frantically for Joanna's daughter and the daughter's friend.

This book moves right along, the characters are well developed and there is excitement. I particularly liked the ending.

Enjoy.

This book had potential to be a fun, if campy, adventure. Too bad the characters, plot, and dialogue got in the way.

Almost from the start, the hero, Ryan, jumps to conclusions about the heroine. Considering that he sleeps with a prostitute in the first chapter, he has no right to be judgmental or jealous.

For her part, Kitty is smarter and more capable than most "feisty" heroines. However, there must have been something in the water, because before long, she starts jumping to conclusions, too.

The plot hinges on too many coincidencs and used too many cliches. The dialogue is stilted, and peppered with distracting dialogue tags such as "snarled" and "sniffed."

I gave this book a D-

Ditto Mrs Giggles. I liked the book, more or less. I don't know that I would recommend it but I wouldn't try to talk someone out of buying it either.

This is the final leg of an exciting journey with the hellraising Delaney brothers! I think this was by far my favorite of the three, which is hard to say because I really liked the first one, "To Love A Stranger". This had all the action and fire I had hoped for in Ryan Delaney, the youngest and the 'rogue' of the three brothers. His match Kathryn, or Kitty as she is nicknamed has become one of my favorite heroines! She is fiesty and fouthmouthed and doesn't take no lip or (excuse the language) crap from anyone, inlcuding Ryan! Or Rogue Ryan as he is called in town...

Ryan is sent on an errand from his dead father's best friend in Arizona to find his long-lost daughter Kathryn Lowry. No one has any idea where she went, she has disapeared without a trace for more than 6 years! Ryan decides to go since his brothers have all settled down and have families. He is bored with the women in Dry Gulch, Montana (his hometown) and embarks on the journey south. He accidentally runs into a notorious bankrobbing gang in Tombstone, Arizona and gets caught up in the fray, soon his finds himself one of the crew! Boy will his brothers kill him when they find out! But what he does discover is a small boy that doesn't look much like a boy, but a woman in boy's clothing in the gang called Kit.

Kit has no time for men or handsome, heartstopping ones named Ryan Delaney. No one had discovered her ruse and she prays they never do. She is only along for the ride until she can save enough money to leave them. Suddenly her world is turned upside down when her protector is shot down in a robbery and Ryan joins the gang. Will he see through her clothing? Does she want him to? Kit is so confused, she has never felt anything for a man before. But when Ryan discovers her for who she is, she is turning tail!

An exciting adventure through the deserts and old west towns! Kit becomes Kitty and Ryan soon realizes that Kitty is also someone else he has been looking for...but how in the world did she becomes an outlaw? What would her father say? I loved the action and fire in this story and thought Kitty was perfect for the loud and obnoxious Ryan! Ryan gets himself into a bad scrape that the brothers must band together to get him out of. We get to meet up with Pierce and Chad from the first two books, "To Love A Stranger" and "To Tame A Renegade". A great trilogy that are definate keepers! Keep up the fantastic work Ms Mason!

Tracy Talley~@

This is the epitome of 90's minimalism: impeccably written, utterly devoid of heart or soul. There isn't one risky sentence in this book: it's all so careful, so risk-free, so . . . dead. If you're into the whole Ron Carlson/Richard Ford thing, go for it. Otherwise, look elsewhere for rich, challenging fiction.

I was thoroughly disappointed. The two teenagers that this story revolves around are stereotypical. Nothing seperates them as individuals from what i understood and understand as teenage love. The devices that the author uses to seperate these main characters from cliche are ineffective. The sweater, C voice, alcholic mother, scar, et cetera, et cetera seem to be toted in the novel's structure to be pulling these characters into reality. It doesn't happen. However, none of this is more shopworn than the treatment of the drug culture. And the reason i finished this novel was for the fact the book took place in AZ. This is also stated on the back cover of the book, and i don't know why. Place should be used to further or help develop the story, not to dismantle. Ford Madox Ford once said something to the effect, "The novelist should keep the reader entirely oblivious to the fact that the author exists..." Well, I was not only aware of the author existence throughout this short work, but i was also entirely aware the author is not from Arizona.

McNally's Almost Home is a small gem: he writes about his principal characters with grace and empathy, and their struggles, and heartaches are all-too-real.

Phoenix is the setting and McNally takes full advantage of the desert city's metaphorical possibilities, without ever thumping us over the head. It is so refeshing to read a literary novel so richly sophisticated (structurally and technically) that is also still a page-turner, still a great, moving STORY.

I highly recommend this book--

I thought the book was awful I do not recomend it to anyone

Entwined in the story of summer love is a tale of the young man coming-of-age and an illustration of how we are all human. Billy travels from Missouri to there is on the to spend the summer with his uncle. His plan is to get some practical experience working with animals that would provide him with a big step toward fulfilling his childhood dream of becoming a veterinarian. When he first arrives he has no idea that his career plans will change, he will fall in love with a beautiful girl named Cara Mae, or that his gay uncle, Wes, will turn out to be the only person who can give him honest answers about life and love. Billy's story leaves the reader with no pat answers. But, then again, nobody has ever found truely pat answers for growing up. The novel provides points of departure for discussion with young adults about life, love, and themselves. It isn't a book that make every reader happy, but it can leave readers satisfied that life has more than one option.

This book is hilarious. The jokes, dialogue, and plot always kept me reading. I read it in one sitting and laughed so hard. I would recomend this book to anyone with a sense of humor.

book is backwards, writers early years are at the end of the boo

I loved reading this book, even without chapter headings and even with dubious captions (I cannot point these out, as I am not an expert.) I do, however, live in the Sulphur Springs Valley, and have some knowledge of the Chiricahua Mountains where the Rucker Ranch was located. Gray's memories of the tall grass and red clover that filled our valley before it was overgrazed by the cattle consortiums, his stories of life as a cowboy and its dangers from Apaches and outlaws cannot, in my opinion, be replaced by technically correct second-hand histories however accurate. This is like sitting on the veranda listening to your grandfather spinning tales of cattle drives, Apache raids, and trips to Tombstone, with glimpses of the characters we have grown up knowing. His view of them is personal and reflects his preception and experience. As primary history, I recommend this most colorful account. Read it with a salt shaker if you must, but enjoy it as an authentic memoir of his life and times.

This is a superb book, well indexed, footnoted, etc. The notes in other reviews about misinformed captions and lack of chapters is bogus. The historic memoir had no chapter headings. The photo captions are absolutely accurate. Mr. Rogers has done western history a marvelous service by his obviously through research that has provided the readers of the Gray Memoir with valuble insights into the people, events and places that Gray wrote about... Enjoy!!! When is Rogers going to bring out another book? This and his Crimes and Misdeeds: Headlines from Arizona's Past are wonderful reads.

The biggest drawback of this book is its sometimes florid prose which detracts from the history itself. The Grand Canyon is such a great American cliche that reading about it seems trite, but Pyne manages to breathe quite a lot of life into it. He attempts to bring all of European intellectual history to bear on the history of the Canyon. He describes 3 Ages of Exploration and the principal ideas and explorers of each--he describes in some detail the burgeoning geologic knowledge of the late 1800's and devotes as much space to the human representation of the Canyon in art, relating Canyon art to European art movements. He describes the advent of commercialism, of the ecology movement and its principal spokespersons, and of the Canyon in music. He describes how the 3rd Great Age of Exploration--space exploration--has resulted in the canyon being reduced in geologic importance because of the advent of new theories of planetary history, discovered through plate tectonics and impact craters.

This book is a great intellectual history of a subject that tends to be considered so trite as to be mundane. In the course of the 20th Century the wonders of the Grand Canyon have been so often noted that they have become a cliche of commercialism. Pyne takes us back to the Spanish explorers and helps us to understand why their intellectual powers were inadequate to interpret the meaning of the Canyon when they first encountered it. Pyne describes 3 great ages of exploration, and devotes considerable space to the explanation of the geology of the canyon, first discovered in the late 1800's by John Wesley Powell and his associates. He also makes frequent reference to the human representation of the Canyon in art; he considers this, it would appear, to be as significant as its geology. He relates this art to the modernistic movements in Europe. He describes the advent of commercialism and of the ecology movement by men like Joseph Wood Krutch, who wanted the Canyon maintained in its pristine state for the enjoyment of all. He describes how the Canyon has become less important in scientific circles with the advent of the theory of plate tectonics and of crater impact zones, of space exploration.

Pyne puts the Grand Canyon in the context of world history with numerous references to the "First, Second, and Third Ages Of Discovery", the first represented by Coronado, the second represented by Powell, the third represented by space exploration, and with numerous references to geology, (somewhat surprisingly) to art, and to nature writing. This book details the extensive geologic exploration of the canyon in the late 1800's, the art it produced, and the effects of European trends in art on the Canyon art, and the changing view of the canyon as a result of space exploration and environmentalism. A lucid and compelling work.

My husband and I recently bought a home in Prescott, AZ and I purchased this book as a resource for the local economy, job info etc. as we plan to move to the area in a year or so. The section of the book on "job seekers" seems to contain mostly outdated information and refers to statistics between 1985 and 1995 only.

I have been to Arizona about 6 times and I skimmed through the book in search of additional information about the state I plan to live in, but didn't find much of anything I didn't already know. Most of the historical and cultural information is trivial; the climate, economy and travel information is no more detailed than what one could find over the internet by visting a city's chamber of commerce.

The information is also very general as the book covers the entire state of Arizona, so it is not a recommended read for someone looking for specific information about a certain city. This book might be good for someone looking for retirement community information and/or travel information if one intended to take a motor home tour through the state...otherwise, I wouldn't recommend it.

I first started with the a book entitled, Moving to Arizona, published in 1991, then picked up this title, Arizona in Your Future, published in 1998, and writted by the same duo. The two books are the same! Minimal, very minimal updates, same use of tiny, completely undetailed maps and very bland reading. The "Top 10" reviewer who rated this book 5 stars obviously didn't read this book, just rated it. Please, make better use of your time and don't throw other readers off to heighten your standings as to the amount of books you review.

I live in Arizona. I moved here in March of 2000, and before I moved in, I got a copy of this book, after having researched all the options in a bookstore. The good thing about the book is that it's an extremely valuable resource BEFORE you move in, and even if you're only considering whether to move to AZ. It gives you tons of figures and tips, ranging from how to deal with the desert weather, to how the state's "lemon law" works, just to name a couple of them.

The downside to the book, though, is the date in which it was edited: 1998. Since then (it's been three years now) lots of things have changed: area codes, population, some laws, etc. If you're looking for a state guide to use for tourism purposes, or as a daily reference guide, look elsewhere (I'd recommend Frommer's guide -it's truly complete and up-to-date).

This thing received enormous hype when it was released several years back. As with so many hyped items, there's not much there there when you get to the actual work. It's essentially a soap opera with some extra-juicy lines thrown in. If you're into romance novels with an NC-17 rating, buy it used for a buck. If you're into serious fiction with integrity, humor, and intensity-- forget it.

I'm amazed at the negative reviews on this site, and pleased also to see the positive ones. The negative ones feel not about the work, but like easy slams... Memorable characters and a compelling story line. I have read, I believe, all of this author's work and look forward to more.

this book is moving and unforgettble. i read it about three years ago and sometimes it just comes back to me. it's like the characters are real people that you knew once that had a big impact on your life and you will never forget them. this book is sad, terrifying, beautiful and increibly moving. it's about feelings and life. about love and hate, indifference and caring so much that it hurts. it's about life and the horrible things that happen to people and the horrible things that people can do to others... but also about love and how much it can bear.

First of all the abduction in the movie is nothing like the book, what was that about. The most interesting part of the book was of course the abduction but only two short chapters are about the abduction. The rest of the book was quite boring. There was no dialog with the extraterrestrials, we didn't find out that the hell they wanted, no message, no nothing. Your better off watching the movie and reading the two short chapters in the book about the abduction. Very intersting if the story really is true but you don't find out too much in this book.

Along with Betty and Barney Hill's story, the Rozwell incident, and the Area 51-Bob Lazar stuff Travis Walton's intriquing experience makes for some pupil-dilating, pulse-quickening occult reading. If it's science fiction, it leaves "2001", "Star Wars", "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "Hangar 18" and all the rest of them in the dust. If it's not...what is it? Did Travis tap into another level of reality? Or did he expose himself to a *natural* phenomena which electrocuted him, and caused him to wander around the Arizona woods in a semi-conscious state where his dream chemistry took over his brain for awhile?
Travis uses alot of space (printed page space, that is) to try to convince us that although he has a definite history of risk-taking and has a super inquisitive mind, he does not have the fertile imagination or the inclination to cook up such a story. He dispenses plenty of sentences in a defensive stance against the criticisms of folks such as Philip Klass, the noted UFO debunker. The final chapter is a tedious counterpoint to Klass' summation of the situation as...bunk.
The most interesting is Chapter 8, "The Aliens". It is absolutely fascinating; finely written. But it is revealed that these details originated in a question and answer hypnosis session.
That transcript, along with the actual interviews with his friends who claim they all witnessed the mysterious object's effect on Travis, is also not provided, and this technique (used effectively in Fuller's "The Interrupted Journey") makes up in riveting "realism" what it loses in literary quality.
On one TV documentary about fifteen years ago Walton came across as a very down-to-earth (pause) individual who sincerely wants the world to know that *something* happened to him in '75, and he's got many witnesses to that fact. He conveyed his message briefly and convincingly. Here we have a 170-page book running at 370 pages!
By the way, the color artwork is attractive.

There is no question that this is the real thing. I am not happy with the pictures, but much of what Walton says particularly his description of the aliens rings true. For those who want only the information on his abduction experience you might be disappointed, it is good but much of the book is about his and his crewmembers experiences resulting from the abduction. However, the story of an abduction only begins with the event. What happens afterward is often has more effect than the aliens. Read it all particularly if you suspect or know that you may have had a similar experience. What tipped me off, even though it rang true from the start, is his description of the aliens' skin, chalky white. The big aliens, unlike the little grays, have chalky white skin. Like the one that did a brain scan on me. However even though you are not into this kind of thing it makes exciting and revealing reading.

The Flying Fisherman. (about.com.UFO's and aliens)

In the last few years with the discovery of Frank Waters' original manuscript for this book, scholars of Western American History now understand how much Waters distorted the memoirs of Allie Earp (wife of Virgil Earp and sister-in-law of Wyatt) in this later, published version. It is shocking to realize that literally every negative thing Allie Earp was alleged to have said about Wyatt Earp in "The Earp Brothers of Tombstone" was absent in Waters' earlier manuscript. The conclusion that Waters altered Allie Earp's words to fit his strongly anti-Earp prejudice is inescapable. "The Earp Brothers of Tombstone" was highly influential in the 1960's and 1970's in creating the image of Wyatt Earp as basically an adulterous criminal far removed from the 1950's television portrayal as a peerless hero. In fact, Allie Earp's memoirs presented in the original manuscript show Wyatt Earp in a rather favorable light, as a stern and taciturn man, but honorable. Frankly, I think that the University of Nebraska should be ashamed to continue to publish this book in the light of the discovery of Waters' original manuscript -- it is not history, only a fictionalized smear.

This book is an excellent counterpoise to the silly, inaccurate and self-serving blather which usually passes for a biography of Earp's life. While it has problems, here and there, it is, by orders of magnitude, more accurate than books which claim Earp was a lawman, primarily, or cleaned up any western town, of which several more have been published in the last few years.

Read it, look up the very accurate records kept by the justice department regarding who was a Deputy US Marshal (including special deputies, commissioned for one purpose or another), and who was not, and decide for yourself which story is correct: the intrepid lawman, or the pimp who abandoned his common-law wife; the wealthy gambler and real estate magnate, or the lazy ne'er do well who ran out on a ...mortgage; the unfailing courageous battler for law and order, or the braggart who had his face slapped and gun taken by a real US Marshall in Alaska.

This book is a remarkable treasure. A painfully honest look at the Earp brothers from the point of view of Virgil's wife. Unbalanced in it's own way as all memoirs are, it's still the most credible account we have of this troubled but fascinating family. Waters has been under attack lately by a new generation of Wyatt Worshipers but his book stands out among the volumes of Earp literature as a light in a dark forest. Read this as an antidote to Casey Terfertiller's love letter to Wyatt that passes itself off as a objective biography.