Crack Shot

Trade Ellis mystery #4

by Sinclair Browning

ONE-WOMAN POSSE

Part dirty-shirt cowgirl, part Apache, and part-time private eye, Arizona rancher Trade Ellis doesn’t have time to waste chasing down bad boys like Eddy Gallegos. And besides, finding the runaway teen in the middle of a blistering Tucson summer swarming with kids isn’t going to be easy.

But Trade’s doing it anyway. She’s doing it for Eddy’s grandmother–a friend of a friend–and because she has this thing about justice. She believes in it.

At first Trade figures Eddy is just a juvenile delinquent who broke out of a detention center with a couple of his compadres. But when her questions get answers the fragrance of cow pies, and one of his homeboys, a senator’s son, shows up dead, she realizes the barrio teen is actually running for his life.

Hot on his tail are a team of crooked cops, a suspicious homeless kid on a bike, and maybe an X-rated movie producer. For a yet-to-be-discovered reason, a dangerous race is on, leading Trade down a deadly path of violence and scandal. And from the looks of things, if the good guys finish last, they finish dead....

Genres: Mystery

382 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 29, 2002

Reviews

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crack Shot

I really enjoyed this book. I learned a lot about the Tucson area that I didn’t know, even though I’ve lived here seven years. I understand that the story is based on a true story.

[Lena Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! And Sinclair Browning. I think what I love most is the author doesn't try to sugar coat or be politically correct about what goes on by the Arizona/Mexico border, but it adds to the flavor of the book. Plus, you are reading about the real Arizona, not some made up version. The mystery kept you going although it was more about the read as you made your way through the cast of characters and plot. You can bet I'll look up more books by Sinclair. The only thing I haven't figured out? How did they come up with the title??

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, it was kinda fun. Trade's voice is more down-to-earth than a lot of the first person PI novels out there. She gets involved in this case because things don't quite add up and keeps following her nose. There's a bigger body count in this one than in most others, too.

[Toni Kania]

One of the best in this series in which the land and locale of southwestern Arizona in a character in and of itself to the characters and story. My only quibble is that Trade Ellis, cattle rancher and PI, has no love life, but yearns for it -- come on Browning bring a man into her life!

[John Devlin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read compulsorily, utterly hackneyed at points, utterly unbelievable at others.