Well, I assume this isn't the first in the series, however you never feel lost as you followed the mystery. I love how there was more than one story running around the book, but yet they all tied together for a crazy ending! This book will keep you turning page after page until you can finish it up, and you won't be disappointed for sticking with it! 5 Stars for a great mystery!

Barbara S. (
tioga) wrote on 7/14/2008...
Joanna is again embroiled in a mixed bag of crimes and agencies. Good, as usual, in this series by J.A.Jance
As always, a wonderful storyline, super characters, a believable sheriff that remains a lady. Loved the book / excellant read!
In Skeleton Canyon Jance writes: "Overhead, the stars shone like glittering diamonds against a velvet sky. The starlight was so bright that the mountains, rocks, and trees around her emerged from the gloom. Sitting there in the half-lit dark of Skeleton Canyon, it was easy for Brianna to sense time falling away from her. This rugged, almost empty corner of the Arizona desert had changed so little that even now an occasional jaguar, roaming north from the mountains of Mexico, had been spotted by a solitary rancher. And if the wild canyons of the Peloncillos still played host to an assortment of wildlife, it wasn't so far off to imagine that human outlaws still ranged that same habitat as well."
Brianna O'Brien never returns from Skeleton Canyon, where she had waited under cover of darkness to rendezvous, à la Juliet and Romeo, with her boyfriend, Ignacio Ybarra. In investigating Brianna's murder, Sheriff Joanna Brady must confront both the blatant racism of the O'Brien family--horrified to discover that their daughter could have been involved with a Mexican boy--and the family's dark past. There are skeletons in canyons, and skeletons as well locked behind the doors of the sprawling O'Brien compound. Home is where the heart is--but home is also host to a lethal nest of lies, greed, and secrets.
I would highly recommend this book, I enjoyed it tremendously. If you like Jance, you will like this book. This is a Joanna Brady book.

Judy F. (
Beachie) wrote on 1/13/2007...
A real page turner--Brianna O'Brien never returns from Skeleton Canyon because someone has murdered the pretty, popular teenager who had stolen away to rendezvous with her boyfriend. Sheriff Joanna Brady knows the pain of losing a loved one to violence and senses dark mysteries locked behind doors of the sprawling O'Brien family compound. She finds lies, greed and secrets in the Arizona desert.

Allison W. (
sealady) wrote on 12/31/2006...
Amazon.com: "Although J.A. Jance and Tony Hillerman (Coyote Waits, The Fallen Man) are in many ways poles apart as mystery writers, they are united on at least two fronts: their appreciation of the hypnotically arid beauty of the American Southwest; and their sense that this landscape is peculiarly capable of engendering horrific violence. In Skeleton Canyon Jance writes: "Overhead, the stars shone like glittering diamonds against a velvet sky. The starlight was so bright that the mountains, rocks, and trees around her emerged from the gloom. Sitting there in the half-lit dark of Skeleton Canyon, it was easy for Brianna to sense time falling away from her. This rugged, almost empty corner of the Arizona desert had changed so little that even now an occasional jaguar, roaming north from the mountains of Mexico, had been spotted by a solitary rancher. And if the wild canyons of the Peloncillos still played host to an assortment of wildlife, it wasn't so far off to imagine that human outlaws still ranged that same habitat as well."
Brianna O'Brien never returns from Skeleton Canyon, where she had waited under cover of darkness to rendezvous, à la Juliet and Romeo, with her boyfriend, Ignacio Ybarra. In investigating Brianna's murder, Sheriff Joanna Brady must confront both the blatant racism of the O'Brien family--horrified to discover that their daughter could have been involved with a Mexican boy--and the family's dark past. There are skeletons in canyons, and skeletons as well locked behind the doors of the sprawling O'Brien compound. Home is where the heart is--but home is also host to a lethal nest of lies, greed, and secrets. --Kelly Flynn "
another JA Jance thriller starring Joanne Brady. I couldn't put it down, I was actually reading it in my car while stuck in traffic!