Desert Deadline: A Dante & Jazz Mystery

Craft (Desert Getaway) delivers a breezy second whodunit featuring Palm Springs investigative duo Dante O’Donnell and Jazz Friendly. Dante’s life is looking up: he’s madly in love with his new boyfriend, and as concierge for a vacation rental company, he’s just leased a guesthouse on a U.S. ambassador’s estate to celebrity romance author Maude Movay, who plans to hunker down for an entire month while she finishes her latest manuscript. Dante’s efforts to learn more about his reclusive guest are cut short when Jazz, a PI who befriended Dante after helping clear his name in a murder case, discovers Maude’s strangled corpse on the grounds of the estate. Once again, the two join forces to ferret out the culprit. The stakes are raised when Jazz’s daughter is abducted during their investigation, leading the men to wonder if Maude’s murder had more to do with them than they initially realized. Craft deepens his protagonists’ rapport considerably, and complements the impressive character development with a brain-teasing mystery. Readers will hope to hear more from Dante and Jazz soon. (Self-published)