Jance, Judith A

"While cleaning out the house of her deceased mother, who was a hoarder, Liza Machett discovers a fortune in hundred-dollar bills hidden in the book stacks and magazines that crowd every corner. For Liza, a waitress, the money is a blessing -- until an older man she's never met before warns her that she's in danger. Soon her mother's house is torched, Liza's apartment is broken into, and her elderly landlady is murdered. Terrified, Liza leaves Massachusetts and sets off on a perilous cross-country journey that will lead her to Cochise County, Arizona. Sheriff Joanna Brady has her hands full investigating the suspicious death of a developmentally disabled man found in a cavern. Then another case rocks the department -- a shocking murder involving Liza and the money. Now Joanna must solve these two disturbing cases fast, before more innocent blood is shed."--from back cover.

Ali travels to Tucson, Arizona, to clear the name of her friend Jose Reyes, Santa Cruz County deputy sheriff, who is suspected of being involved in the drug trade.

Not even Ali Reynolds is immune to the escalating danger just across the boarder as two ruthless crimes bring her face to face with a cold-blooded killer.

Jonas Piedmont Beaumont has had it rough all his life. Raised by his hard-working, unmarried mother and disowned as a youth by his grandparents, he learned at a very early age how cruel life can be. Two marriages, a treacherous battle with the bottle, assorted midlife and moral dilemmas, and a few decades as a homicide detective haven't convinced him otherwise. When Beau and his new partner Sue Danielson are assigned the murder of an elderly woman torched to death in her bed, Beau finds himself distracted by sue's difficulties at home...distraction that turns to terror!.

Cochise County sheriff Joanna Brady reluctantly joins forces with J.P. Beaumont, a member of Washington State's Special Homicide Investigation team, when a promising African-American artist, supposedly under the protection of the government, is murdered shortly after moving to Bisbee, Arizona.

Joanna Brady dedicates herself to finding out the truth when her husband Andy, a Cochise County police officer, is shot in what is passed off by the police brass as a suicide attempt, and then implicated in a drug smuggling operation.