Suzanne Arruda

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

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

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

There is never a shortage of adventure in Suzanne Arruda’s Jade Del Cameron mystery series. Set in colonial Africa in 1920, readers of this series can without a doubt always count on a lot of action, an intriguing background murder to puzzle out, and a genuine feeling of being right there in the time and place on the Kenyan plains.

The reader gets up close and personal with the exotic land of Africa at a time when wild animals ran free, and when native tribes such as the Maasai and Kikuyu show more had still not fallen into the hands of the white man. As you read, you will smell the hot arid African air, glimpse a sky full of twinkling stars come sundown, and will drive Safari style along a long dusty road in a jeep viewing herds of wild giraffe, buffalo, elephants or zebra.

The star of this delightful series, Jade Del Cameron, is a bit of a too independent rifle-toting, sarcastic spitfire, complete with her own motorcycle that she uses to take her pet cheetah name Biscuit out for a run. Within the four novels so far, one never knows what trouble or adventures she will encounter; anything from Big Game Hunting, outrages of Elephant Poaching, vacations to Morocco with her mother, kidnappings, murders, interactions with the local natives, or as in this new installment, soaring high in the sky with her love interest Sam Featherstone as he instructs her in flying lessons.

The reader always learns something new about Africa in the 1920's with each new installment of the series, and I can only say these stories are very enjoyable, delightful, and engaging. There is usually a sideline murder to solve but they almost seem to be irrelevant. The ongoing scenarios of the usual crowd of characters that appear in each story are what drive the books and allow the reader to get addicted to them. An additional fun feature, are the quotes that are inserted over each chapter head. Jade Del Cameron's way of making a living in Africa is being a professional reporter for a travel magazine called The Traveler. Quotes and paragraphs from her articles are placed in the front of each chapter allowing the reader to also get firsthand information on what is happening locally. In Leopard's Prey, wonderful Maasai myth and culture tidbits appear.

If you enjoy a light and easy simple mystery series with quaint characters that you can rely on to always make you smile, this series will not disappoint. Murder, romance, adventure, action, exotic locale....what more do you need for a few hours of sheer entertainment? Leopard's Prey, the fourth book in the series still holds steady to show us the author is still going strong and has not relented in giving us the goods. I highly recommend this book as well as the previous three in the set, and I eagerly await book five which should hopefully gives us some answers to the cliff hanger Arruda left us with on the last page. show less