MADreads

Death in the high desert

April 6th, 2009 Liz C. - Alicia Ashman

In Marcia Muller’s last book, The Ever-Running Man, private investigator Sharon McCone nearly lost everything to a bomb. Traumatized by this recent history and exhausted after 30 plus years working in the investigative field, McCone is wondering if it is time to do something else. In Burn Out she leaves her agency in the capable hands of her associates and flees to the ranch in California’s high desert.  She hopes to figure out a way to cope with the deep, enervating depression she is experiencing and to make some decisions about her direction in life.  Then a young Native American woman is found murdered at a nearby trailer camp followed by the disappearance of her younger sister and McCone, despite her attempts to disengage, is drawn deeper and deeper into the history and current danger of this dysfunctional family.

This is the 26^th book written by Marcia Muller following the career and personal ups and downs of Sharon McCone. I always look forward eagerly to a new adventure and am seldom disappointed in the quality of the writing and the story. While you can certainly read most of them and enjoy them on their own, what makes the series special in my mind is the growth, intellectually and emotionally, that takes place in McCone’s life as she is affected by the cases she takes and the decisions she makes along the way.  If you want to start from the beginning, the first book is Edwin of the Iron Shoes.

Entry Filed under: Mystery