The Cheetah Chase

Jazz Jasper #3

by Karin McQuillan

Safari guide Jazz Jasper is staying with friends Nick and Wynn in their isolated cheetah preserve in Kenya when Nick is stung by a scorpion and dies. The scorpion has been imported from the Sahara and it seems that a clever murder has been committed. The search for the truth leads Jazz to Nairobi.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Africa, Kenya

320 pages, Hardcover

First published July 19, 1994

About the author

Karin McQuillan is a psychotherapist and author of several mystery novels.

Series:
* Jazz Jasper

Reviews

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been languishing in my TBR since publication in 1994. I can't believe I left it so long to read!

Third in the Jazz Jasper Safari Guide series, this outing in Kenya takes us from a Cheetah Preserve near the Somali border, to Nairobi, to the desert and a manyatta (village) of locals, then into the mountains of the Great Rift and the cave of a native whose tribe continues living as they did in the stone age. Once again, the author has brought Africa and its wildlife and dramatic geography to vivid life while delivering a good mystery, a touch of romance and steamy sex, and high action. Jazz is visiting friends who own a Cheetah Preserve when Nick, one of the owners with his wife Wynn, dies before Jazz, his family and the sole employee from what appears to be a scorpion bite. Soon Jazz spots some inconsistencies and determines it is murder. While investigating, Jazz uncovers illegal trade in animal skins, including the endangered cheetah, and mass poaching.

The author uses the mystery plot to provide a background for revealing the wildlife and habitat threats in Africa - and particularly Kenya which is developing rapidly and popular with tourists. I learned a great deal about cheetahs, in particular, but a really broad array of African wildlife. One of my favorite tidbits was that if you want to hunt scorpions, you do so in the dark with UV lantern. The UV lights them up like neon. Useful to know when I finally take that African safari of my dreams.

[Louise Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

An entertaining mystery and an interesting look at the wildlife and landscapes of Africa. The book kept me interested as Jazz Jasper chases the clues involving her friend's sudden death from a scorpion sting.

[Jimena Montane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed it and wanted to keep reading. I particularly loved all the facts and stories about wildlife and depictions of the beautiful African landscape.

[Corinne B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the intermingling of mystery with facts about the wildlife! Kept me on my toes throughout, though the ending did seem a bit abrupt.

[LJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

CHEETAH CHASE - G
McQuillan, Karin - 3rd in Jazz Jasper series

Jazz Jasper, American owner of a safari company in Kenya and occasional PI, sets out to solve a murder and protect a magnificent and endangered species. On the opening pages, Jazz witnesses the gruesome death, by the sting of a non-indigenous scorpion, of investigative reporter Nick Hunter. Aided by Nick's widow Wynn, an animal-rights activist, and the suave police detective Omondi, Jazz traces Nick's last moves, gradually discerning that whoever is behind his murder may also threaten the survival of the cheetah. She finds herself in the treacherous worlds of illegal poachers, large-scale land developers and the wealthy who think nothing of keeping a cheetah cub as a pet or wearing its fur. Such physical dangers as a plane crash, an attack by Saudi bodyguards and another by lions are all part of a day's work for the resourceful and courageous Jazz, who is also coping with a floundering business and a rocky romance.

It's an okay story and a very good picture of Africa but I probably won't read more by her.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the third and last installment of the Jazz Jasper series, Jazz Jasper learned the hard way about trusting friends in Cheetah Chase. When her friend was poisoned and died, she came across a mysterious scorpion. From there, she's caught up in an embroiled mystery of her own, when it deals with the African land and the cheetah cubs. She came across some interesting people in her investigation and suspect the people closest to her she trusted with suspicion of her own. From African tribal herbal medicine to the foreign oil trade, there's lot of suspense on the air and on land, when she came across a dangerous trek of her own. In the midst of things, things are tense between her and Striker's relationship. In the end, she didn't suspect whodunit and was shocked to the core on why. Nice scenery set in Africa's vast lands.

[Earthwatchaddict · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I have been on two Earthwatch projects in Kenya and while I haven't volunteered at the Cheetah reserve, the descriptions of the landscape and wildlife really brought it all back.

[Florence Buchholz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining mystery in an Aftrican setting written by a fellow animal lover.

[Brittany]

good

[Susinok · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish there were more of these.