The Mesa was the most desolate place I'd ever seen. I climbed out of the Scout and followed my guide across rock-strewn ground where nothing but mesquite and spiny cholla cactus grew. The morning was overcast, the air saturated with salt-laden moisture-spitty weather, we used to call it. The wind blew, sharp and icy off the flat grey sea.

Ahead of us where the ground dropped off to distant ranchland stood the tumbledown Adobe hut. My guide, Andres, stopped several yards from it and waited for me to join him. I looked at the hut, felt nothing. It was simply a relic of a bygone time, crumbling now into the earth that had formed it. I started toward it, then glanced back at my companion. He stood, arms folded, staring resolutely at the Pacific. Superstitious, I thought, and kept going.

More a thriller than a mystery. Still a good entry for this excellent series. ( )

A good character-driven mystery with a smart female protagonist. Sharon McCone is interesting and fully developed. The plot was excellent. The pacing was good. All of the characters were well fleshed out and very human. Good book. ( )

Here is another one of those iconic mysteries that I vividly remember only from one reading. In this novel, Sharon McCone faces personal demons and dangerous people to find out what happened to her lover, environmentalist Hy Ripinsky. Along the way, she must also deal with uncertainty and confusion about her career in general.

Without a doubt, this is the best McCone novel so far. Fast-paced and well-written, it is truly a nail-biter all the way to the end.

Kudos, Ms. Muller! Kudos!! ( )

"Beware of the wolf in the shadows. He is watchful and patient, and when he catches you he will eat you up - skin and bones and heart."

I read Wolf in the Shadows by Marcia Muller for the Book Awards Challenge II. This book was published in 1993 and won the Anthony Award in 1994.

This book is a Sharon McCone mystery and it chronicles ten days in her life. Sharon is a private investigator for All Souls Legal Cooperative in San Francisco. Her lover, Hy Ripinsky, has disappeared and she is searching for him. At the same time, All Souls offers her a "promotion" - a desk job managing investigators and paralegals, and that doesn't hold much appeal for her. Sharon's search for Hy leads her to RKI, a security agency with questionable practices. Hy was delivering a 2 million dollar ransom for RKI when he went missing, so they assumed he'd stolen it. Sharon agrees to find Hy, but first she must shake the agents RKI has tailing her. Through a series of twists and turns (I don't want to spoil the plot), the mystery is solved and Sharon finds herself with two jobs to consider - one with All Souls and another with RKI. ( )