February 8, 2013

Deadly Stakes by J.A. Jance


Deadly Stakes by J.A. Jance continues the “Ali Reynolds” mystery series, making for the eighth book in the series. Fans of the series will love Ali’s investigation techniques, and close calls throughout the book.


Book Description
A thrilling mystery from New York Times bestselling author J.A. Jance starring Ali Reynolds, who finds herself working against the police to clear two innocent names…with deadly stakes.

In Deadly Stakes, police academy-trained former reporter Ali Reynolds is contacted to investigate the grisly murder of a gold-digging divorcee on behalf of a woman accused of the crime. Lynn Martinson is dating the dead woman’s ex-husband, and she and her boyfriend Chip Ralston have been charged. 

Ali is simultaneously drawn to the case of A.J. Sanders, a frightened teen with secrets of his own. He’s the first to find the body in the Camp Verde desert when he goes to retrieve a mysterious buried box hidden by his absent father—a box that turns out to be filled with hundreds of thousands of dollars in poker chips. 

When the body of an ex-con is discovered near the first crime scene, Ali struggles to determine if A.J. and Lynn’s cases are related. Though her friends in the police department grow increasingly irritated by her involvement with the cases, Ali must stop a deadly killer from claiming another victim…before she herself is lost in this game of deadly stakes.” – Deadly Stakes


My Thoughts
Deadly Stakes features the lovely Ali Reynolds, a “police academy-trained former reporter.” She is the type of character who can go through just about anything, and still come out looking fabulous, oh and solve the crime or mystery before the police do.

The characters are a bit unbelievable, so is the plot and subplots of the story, but who really cares? It is fiction and an escape from reality. It is a fun read and continues the Ali Reynolds mystery series. Fans of the series will likely love it, and I think newcomers to the series will enjoy it as well. Just don’t expect it to be very realistic.


* Thank you to the publisher of Deadly Stakes, Touchstone, for providing me with a copy of this book for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

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