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Product Description
It happened in broad daylight. . .
The pretty fifteen-year-old had saddled up for an afternoon ride and never come back.
She was gone. So was her horse. Left behind was a splintered fence. The tracks of a pickup truck. A discarded riding boot. And a great deal of blood.
As a mother herself, Cincinnati detective Sonora Blair knew she was looking at a parent's worst nightmare. As a homicide cop, she tried not to think about what might be happening to the young girl right now . . . or what the police would find if they didn't get to her in time.
But nothing in Sonora's experience could prepare her for the chilling revelations that would emerge from this case . . . or for the truth about other missing children, a lover's betrayal, and another unthinkable crime. . .
Amazon.com Review
Lynn Hightower's female characters take no prisoners. Sonora Blair, tough-but-vulnerable Cincinnati police detective, knows the father of 15-year-old Joellen Chauncey is involved somehow in his daughter's mysterious disappearance. But Sonora's boss, partner, and colleagues think she's crazy. Dixon Chauncey is a devoted single father of three, and a mild, self-effacing milquetoast who's much too "squishy" to be a suspect. Sonora doesn't buy the official line--that Joellen got caught between two feuding scam artists involved in a thoroughbred swindle--not even when the girl's body turns up, along with an empty, blood-spattered horse trailer. Sonora won't ignore what her gut tells her. And when Joellen's diaries open up a whole new line of investigation tied into a missing children's network, she renews her efforts to find the crack in Dixon's façade. The plot is full of seductive McGuffins: the owner of a riding school who lands in the hospital minus a finger; a mysterious and sexy stranger hanging around the barn. The narrative meanders a bit, taking in Sonora's failings as a single mother to her own kids, her impulsive decision to buy a horse, and her overactive libido (which fastens itself on three different men in a little over 300 pages). But the book is crisply written, with resonant characters and a suspenseful narrative. It's a special treat for horse fanciers. --Jane Adams
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