Shortly after, a young woman walks into David’s office and introduces herself as Dana, “one of your college students from way back when.” Dana has a letter allegedly written by her father about a man he killed in the 1960s and buried on some desert land. David is skeptical, yet rather than check out Dana’s story, he first follows the directions to the desert. Instead of finding old bones, he finds a very recently dead man and now must figure out why Dana wanted him to find this man.

What begins is a long, twisted story of real estate greed and jealousy, all of which seems to lead back to Tom Earley, who has a political agenda against David’s boss Mike Peralta. Dead bodies begin to pile up and Dana’s story keeps changing and why does mobster Bobby who saved Mike’s life keep turning up? David must quickly sort out the bodies and the stories, trying to stay one step ahead of a killer who will stop at nothing to claim his or her own Arizona dream.

There are many interesting plots and connections in this book, but they often don’t all flow together, and David doesn’t always use the best common sense. He often acts with limited amounts of information – or with his heart – and walks into traps or bad situations. He allows his sister-in-law Robin to move into the house not knowing much about her; before he knows it she is coming on to him and then is arrested on suspicion of murder.

Lindsey is a more interesting character trying to hold everything together and escape her dysfunctional past, once in awhile reverting to what she knows best, horrified after an outburst occurs. Robin’s presence doesn’t seem all that necessary for character development; any character, not necessarily a relative of Lindsey’s could have played her role. Readers may wonder why David doesn’t start and end with the obvious. Though the trip makes some interesting turns, there would have been fewer deaths if he had gotten there a little sooner.

Jennifer Monahan Winberry

--REVIEWER NAME