NEW

YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady’s professional and

personal lives collide when her college-age daughter is involved in a missing

persons case in this evocative and atmospheric mystery in J. A. Jance’s New

York Times bestselling suspense series, set in the beautiful desert country

of the American Southwest.

When Jennifer Brady returns to Northern Arizona University

for her sophomore year, she quickly becomes a big sister to her new roommate,

Beth Rankin, a brilliant yet sheltered sixteen-year-old freshman. For a

homeschooled Beth, college is her first taste of both freedom and unfettered

access to the internet, and Jenny is concerned that she’s too naïve and

rebellious for her own good.

Her worries are well-founded because one day Beth vanishes,

prompting Jenny to alert campus authorities, local police, and her mom, Sheriff

Joanna Brady—who calls in a favor. Beth is found, but Jenny’s concern has

unwittingly put her in the crosshairs of a criminal bent on revenge.

With Christmas vacation approaching, and Beth at war with

her parents, Jenny invites Beth to the shelter of the Brady home. While Joanna

is sympathetic, she’s caught up in a sensitive case—an officer-involved

shooting that has placed the lives of two young children in jeopardy—leaving

her stretched thin to help a fragile young woman recently gone missing and

endangered.