J. A. Jance continues her popular series featuring Arizona Sheriff Joanna Brady in her latest thriller, “Field of Bones.” (William Morrow, 381 pages)

While still grieving the loss of her mother and stepfather, Joanna Brady is busy sweating out a close reelection campaign. As she awaits the election returns,

Joanna goes into labor and delivers her daughter, Eleanor Sage, named for her mother.

Though the sheriff may be taking a well deserved maternity leave, crime has not taken a leave of absence in Cochise County.

When a teenager finds a skull while hiking in the Peloncillo Mountains, which border New Mexico, it becomes apparent that this remote region of Cochise County has become the burial plot of a cunning serial killer who is preying on young women and holding them as sex slaves before murdering them.

Jance has written a “nail-biter” of a suspense/crime novel as the reader will empathize with the victim, Latisha, and her heroic actions as she tries to escape from her depraved captor.

The author blends details of police procedure including the art of profiling a criminal, with breathtaking descriptions of the Arizona desert.

There is even an interesting recipe for a Southwestern style meatloaf.

Fans of J. A. Jance will cheer on Sheriff Brady and her deputies as they try to clear the desert of one ruthless predator.