Suzanne Arruda

I have read every single one of Suzanne Arruda's Jade del Cameron mysteries, and I've watched the series grow from rather light-hearted adventure yarns into something much more substantive that gave me a real feel for the time period and the culture. When I saw Arruda had published Devil Dance, you had to know that I snapped it up immediately.

Arruda has created a good mystery with an excellent sense of misdirection. It was also a wonderful idea to split the engaged couple and pair each one show more with one of Jade's parents. In this way we become better acquainted with Jade's father Richard as well as Sam. Jade's mother Inez isn't as much of a mystery since she has appeared in other books. She and her daughter are so much alike that their time together can be a bit obstreperous. In addition, there are several humorous scenes as each couple begins having its share of adventures.

The serious part of the book concerns slavery, and how-- although it had been made illegal quite some time ago-- some people are still involved in the sale of human beings. As I said earlier, these books aren't just light-hearted fun; the author really gives you a feel for the time and place, and this makes me enjoy her writing even more.

The tension in Devil Dance grows, and it's a given that the two couples are going to wind up in the same place eventually. The only question is... which couple is going to be saving the other?

If you're new to the series, I think you could read this book and not be hopelessly confused. But if you enjoy good historical mysteries with interesting characters and a vivid sense of place, I suggest you begin at the beginning with Mark of the Lion. show less

This is the sixth in the Jade del Cameron Mysteries (historical amateur sleuth series). The main character is Jade del Cameron (aka Simba Jike), an independent women, former WWI ambulance driver now a motorcycle-riding, knife-throwing photojournalist with her pet Cheetah, Biscuit. The novel is set in 1921 Nairobi, Kenya (Eastern Central Africa).

This book apparently picks up where the last one left off plus a few months. But I was able to pick up the storyline fine without reading the show more previous books.

The love of Jade's life is a pilot and an amateur film maker named Sam Featherstone. He had left 4 months prior to go back to the States and try to sell his film footage of Africa and his idea for a movie. Jade apparently spent the time in France visiting old battlefields and friends from during the war. While there she had a momentary vision of her dead fiancee, David, who was a casualty of the war and had died in her arms. The story picks up with her staying at Lord and Lady Dunbury's when she receives a letter with her deceased fiancee's clipped obituary notice and the words "Why did you let me die?" written in David's handwriting.

That evening after she seeks some solitude she witnesses a car pushed off a bridge by another car and she finds the man inside the partially sunk vehicle dead. This sets up two separate plots moving simultaneously as Jade continues to get packages etc from the deceased David and there are strange "accidents" happening in the surrounding area that hint at a murderer loose who is leveraging a voracious crocodile to dispose of the bodies of investors in a gold mine. Can it be David's mother who despises Jade and blames her for her son's death who is behind the letters? But what about those visions of David she seems to be having? Then there is the suspicious deaths. What a time for Sam to be in the States chasing his dream!

I plunged into this book and found it a great read. The descriptions of Africa on the brink of becoming populated and no longer untouched are expertly portrayed. The plot is solid and, I thought, believable with some nice twists. The characters are perhaps the best part of the book. Jade is brought to life to the extent you expect to find the articles in some archive that she has written for her magazine. Jade is flawed just enough that you become her cheering squad without even realizing it. I have seen Jade compared to a female Indiana Jones, but I can also see her as a female version of Allan Quartermain. The other characters are just as vivid to make the whole a finely woven tapestry. The indigenous people are realistically and carefully drawn which I found refreshing. You get a sense for the undercurrent of tension between the original inhabitants and the British colonial rule which does play its own role in this tale.

The mystery is revealed over time as the story unfolds and just when you think there are no real surprises - BAM you get a twist that got you good. The reveal and climax are nicely intense and get your full attention. If you want to be swept away and enjoy pure escapism, this book will do the trick. I am now craving to read the five that came before this one. If you enjoy historical mysteries or a strong layered heroine, then I think you will enjoy this book as much as I did.

Read the complete review here:
http://mysterysuspence.blogspot.com/2010/08/review-crocodiles-last-embrace.html show less

American Jade del Cameron served as an ambulance driver in France in the Great War and saw her love, pilot David Worthy, get shot down. She vowed to fulfill his dying wish that she find his unknown half-brother. That vow takes her to Nairobi in 1919, where David 19s father died years earlier when he was attacked by a hyena in his hotel. She takes a job as a journalist for The Traveler magazine and infiltrates the Happy Valley set, where she makes friends and organizes a safari.

As Jade makes show more her way through African society, an American made uncomfortable by the strictures of class and race, she learns Swahili, moves to a coffee plantation, and navigates the rutted roads of Africa in an unreliable car. There have been some suspicious deaths and not just that of David Worthy's father. The natives believe that a laibon is at work, an evil spirit who has the ability to assume the form of a beast, in this case a hyena. Or a lion. Or are there two laibons at work? Jade isn't sure she believes this, but isn't as quick to rule out the possibility as some of her compatriots.

Jade is a forthright, blunt-spoken, action-oriented heroine who knows more about guns than fashion. Clips from her travel articles head up each chapter and the action moves swiftly through bush and ballroom until it culminates in a sufficiently atmospheric and danger-riddled safari. I was intrigued enough with this first book to pick up the second one. I thought Jade was lots of fun, even if she may be too good to be true. show less

American Jade del Cameron served as an ambulance driver in France in the Great War and saw her love, pilot David Worthy, get shot down. She vowed to fulfill his dying wish that she find his unknown half-brother. That vow takes her to Nairobi in 1919, where David’s father died years earlier when he was attacked by a hyena in his hotel. She takes a job as a journalist for The Traveler magazine and infiltrates the Happy Valley set, where she makes friends and organizes a safari.

As Jade makes show more her way through African society, an American made uncomfortable by the strictures of class and race, she learns Swahili, moves to a coffee plantation, and navigates the rutted roads of Africa in an unreliable car. There have been some suspicious deaths and not just that of David Worthy's father. The natives believe that a laibon is at work, an evil spirit who has the ability to assume the form of a beast, in this case a hyena. Or a lion. Or are there two laibons at work? Jade isn't sure she believes this, but isn't as quick to rule out the possibility as some of her compatriots.

Jade is a forthright, blunt-spoken, action-oriented heroine who knows more about guns than fashion. Clips from her travel articles head up each chapter and the action moves swiftly through bush and ballroom until it culminates in a sufficiently atmospheric and danger-riddled safari. I was intrigued enough with this first book to pick up the second one. I thought Jade was lots of fun, even if she may be too good to be true. show less