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Roz Shea

Biography

Roz Shea


Roz Shea has reviewed books for Bookreporter.com since 1998. She was a BookPage chat room moderator for the online book chat room Bookacinno, sponsored by Bookreporter in its earliest days in the ‘90s. She writes for and edits local publications. She authored a historical memoir of Julian and Lucy King, who built King's Ranch in 1946, a dude ranch far from civilization in one of the last places in the American west where one could break ground. She lectures on the book and other historical events in the Phoenix area.

Roz lives in, and works to preserve, the Sonoran desert at the base of the Superstition Mountains in Arizona. She is the former Executive Director of a land trust, and is married with three grown children and one grandson in whom she wants to instill her passion for the desert and reading. She grew up and was educated in Iowa, where she was active in conservation, then moved to Arizona and never wants to leave. In her spare time, she builds trails, writes grant proposals and, of course, READS.

An eclectic mix of nonfiction, historical fiction, biographies and detective thrillers, fantasy and sci-fi are stowed on the many bookshelves throughout her home. John Irving, Herman Wouk, Harriet Doer, Annie Proulx, Robert Ludlum, John le Carré, James Michener, Martin Cruz Smith, Homer Hickam, Ken Follett, Bill Bryson, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Barbara Kingsolver, Lisa See, Paul Theroux, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck and most of the classics are among them. She has every book written by Terry Pratchett, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein and Douglas Adams. Mysteries dark to mysteries cozy are her secret vice. She collects James Lee Burke, Linda Fairstein, Elizabeth George, P. D. James, Craig Johnson, Patricia Cornwell, John D. MacDonald, Louise Penny, Kathy Reichs, M.C. Beaton, S.J. Rozan, Tony Hillerman, Sue Grafton, J.A. Jance, Elizabeth Peters, Robert B. Parker, Steve Martini, John Dunning, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, John Grisham, Janet Evanovich and Alexander McCall Smith.

Roz Shea

Reviews by Roz Shea

by J. A. Jance - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

After spending 20 years behind bars, Frank Muñoz, a disgraced former cop, is out on parole and focused on just one thing: revenge. For Ali Reynolds, the first Christmas without her father is riddled with grief and uncertainty. And with her husband and founding partner of High Noon Enterprises, B. Simpson, preoccupied by an upcoming New Year’s trip to London, she is ready for a break. But when Stu Ramey barges into her home with grave news about a suspicious accident on the highway to Phoenix involving B.’s car, things reach a breaking point. At the hospital, a groggy, post-op B. insists that Ali take his place at a ransomware conference in London as troubles brimming around High Noon come to light. Who would go to such lengths to cut the tech company from the picture?

by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

SFPD Sergeant Lindsay Boxer has guns on her mind. There’s buzz of a last-ditch shipment of drugs and weapons crossing the Mexican border ahead of new restrictive gun laws. Before Lindsay can act, her top informant tips her to a case that hits disturbingly close to home. Former cops. Professional hits. All with the same warning scrawled on their bodies: You talk, you die. Now it’s Lindsay’s turn to choose.

by Christine Simon - Fiction, Humor

Vacuum repairman and self-appointed mayor of Prometto, Italy, Signor Speranza has a problem. Unless he can come up with 70,000 euros to fix the town’s pipes, the water commission will shut off the water to the village and all its residents will be forced to disperse. So in a bid to boost tourism --- and revenue --- he spreads a harmless rumor that movie star Dante Rinaldi will be filming his next project nearby. Unfortunately, the plan works a little too well, and soon everyone in town wants to be a part of the fictional film. To his surprise, Speranza realizes that the only way to keep up the ruse is to make the movie for real. But what happens when Dante Rinaldi doesn’t show up? Or worse, what if he does?

by Anne Hillerman - Fiction, Mystery

Sergeant Jim Chee is on a quest to unravel a sacred mystery that his mentor, the Legendary Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, stumbled across decades earlier. Chee’s journey takes a deadly turn when he spots a body floating in the lake. The dead man, a Navajo with a passion for the canyon’s ancient rock art, lived a life filled with many secrets. Discovering why he died and who was responsible involves Chee in an investigation that puts his own life at risk. Meanwhile, Officer Bernadette Manuelito is driving home when she witnesses an expensive sedan purposely kill a hitchhiker. The search to find the killer leads her to uncover a dangerous chain of interconnected revelations involving a Navajo Nation cannabis enterprise.

by Janet Evanovich - Adventure, Fiction, Humor, Suspense, Thriller

As a recovery agent, Gabriela Rose is hired by individuals and companies seeking lost treasures, stolen heirlooms or missing assets of any kind. But her latest job isn’t for some bamboozled billionaire. It’s for her own family, whose home is going to be wiped off the map if they can’t come up with a lot of money fast. Inspired by an old family legend, Gabriela sets off for the jungles of Peru in pursuit of the Ring of Solomon and the lost treasure of Cortez. But this particular job comes with a huge problem attached to it --- Gabriela’s ex-husband, Rafer. It’s Rafer who has the map that possibly points the way to the treasure, and he’s not about to let Gabriela find it without him. It’s going to take a team to defeat the vicious drug lord who also has been searching for the fabled ring.

by C. J. Box - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

A day before the three Pickett girls come home for Thanksgiving, Joe is called out for a moose poaching incident that turns out to be something much more sinister: a local fishing guide has been brutally tortured and murdered. At the same time, Marybeth opens an unmarked package at the library where she works and finds a photo album that belonged to an infamous Nazi official. Who left it there? And why? When a close neighbor is murdered, Joe and Marybeth face new questions: Who is after the book? And how will they solve its mystery before someone hurts them…or their girls? Meanwhile, Nate Romanowski is on the hunt for the man who stole his falcons and attacked his wife.

by J. A. Jance - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

Years ago, when he was a homicide detective with the Seattle PD, J. P. Beaumont’s partner, Sue Danielson, was murdered. Volatile and angry, Danielson’s ex-husband came after her in her home. With nowhere else to turn, Jared, Sue’s teenage son, frantically called Beau for help. As Beau rushed to the scene, he urged Jared to grab his younger brother and flee the house. In the end, Beau’s plea and Jared’s quick action saved the two boys from their father’s murderous rage. Now, almost 20 years later, Jared reappears in Beau’s life seeking his help once again --- his younger brother, Chris, is missing. Beau encounters a tangled web of family secrets in which a killer with nothing to lose is waiting to take another life.

by Peter Lovesey - Fiction, Mystery, Short Stories

More than 50 years ago, Peter Lovesey published a short story in an anthology. That short story caught the eye of the great Ruth Rendell, whose praise ignited Lovesey’s lifelong passion for short form crime fiction. On the occasion of his 100th short story, Lovesey has assembled this devilishly clever collection --- 18 yarns of mystery, melancholy and mischief, inhabiting such deadly settings as a theater, a monastery and the book publishing industry. The collection includes that first story that launched his story-writing career, as well as three exclusive new stories. In addition, Lovesey fans will delight in a personal essay by the author about the historical inspirations --- and in an appearance by the irascible Bath detective Peter Diamond.

by Sulari Gentill - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

American millionaire Daniel Cartwright has been shot dead: three times in the chest and once in the head. His body is found in Harvard Yard, dressed in evening attire. No one knows who he planned to meet there, or why the staunch Oxford man would be caught dead at Harvard --- literally. Australian Rowland Sinclair, his mate from Oxford and longtime friend, is named executor of the will, to his great surprise --- and that of Danny's family. Events turn downright ugly when the will all but disinherits Danny's siblings in favor of one Otis Norcross, whom no one knows or is able to locate. Amidst assault, kidnapping and threats of slander, Rowly struggles to understand Danny's motives, find the missing heir and identify his friend's killer before the clock --- and his luck --- runs out.

by Diana Gabaldon - Fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Romance

Jamie Fraser and Claire Randall were torn apart by the Jacobite Rising in 1746, and it took them 20 years of loss and heartbreak to find each other again. Now it’s 1779, and Claire and Jamie are finally reunited with their daughter, Brianna; her husband, Roger; and their children, and are rebuilding their home on Fraser’s Ridge --- a fortress that may shelter them against the winds of war as well as weather. But tensions in the Colonies are great: Battles rage from New York to Georgia, and even in the mountains of the backcountry, feelings run hot enough to boil Hell’s teakettle. Jamie knows that loyalties among his tenants are split, and it won’t be long before the war is on his doorstep.