The Leopard's Prey (Jade del Cameron Series #4) by Suzanne Arruda

From the Publisher

Fourth in the series starring "a larger than- life heroine far ahead of her time" (Denver Post).

American adventuress Jade del Cameron has returned home to British East Africa to help the Perkins and Daley Zoological Company collect wild animals for zoos in the States. But the real danger begins when the body of a local merchant is found on a coffee-growing plantation. Authorities determine the cause of death to be murder—and their prime suspect is Jade's beau, movie-maker and ace World War I flyer Sam Featherstone. To clear Sam's name, Jade launches her own investigation, but nothing prepares her for the journey that lies ahead, during which she'll have to confront more than one kind of brutal killer, face-to-face.

Publishers Weekly

Spunky Jade del Cameron, animal wrangler, photojournalist and neophyte pilot, predictably tames man and beast in Arruda's middling fourth mystery set in 1920 Kenya (after 2008's The Serpent's Daughter). When a local merchant's body turns up on a coffee plantation, the authorities deem it a case of murder. The chief suspect is Sam Featherstone, wounded American war hero, now filmmaker and Jade's flying mentor, who torments Jade with that age-old female dilemma, marriage or independence. In between solving crimes and rescuing baby animals, Jade laments the passing of old Africa and promotes nascent African independence. Her charming cheetah, Biscuit, and Jade's indomitable can-do spirit reinforce the author's relish for describing the Kenyan landscape, its animal life and its native Kikuyu and Masai tribesmen, saving this otherwise conventional novel from banality. (Jan.)

Jo Ann Vicarel - Library Journal

Intrepid journalist and adventuress Jade Del Cameron is in Nairobi, Kenya, helping to capture wild animals for American zoos. When a man's body is found on her friends' coffee plantation, Jade and her boyfriend, movie producer and World War I pilot Sam Featherstone, are the prime suspects. Then someone attacks Sam. Courageous, quick-thinking, straight-talking Jade must find the murderer before more people die. In her fourth mystery set in 1920s East Africa (Mark of the Lion; Stalking Ivory; The Serpent's Daughter), Arruda depicts a world in which encroaching colonial civilization is beginning to cost the wild animals their homes and racial tensions between British settlers and the natives are escalating. Great characters, careful plotting, and an unusually beautiful depiction of Africa make this a good choice for all mystery collections.

Kirkus Reviews

The most dangerous animals in Nairobi circa 1920 are the two-legged kind. After unraveling a kidnapping plot in Morocco (The Serpent's Daughter, 2008, etc.), Jade del Cameron has returned to her beloved Kenya Colony to help friends at the Perkins and Daley Zoological Company rescue wild animals that, if not captured for transfer to zoos, would fall prey to hunters. She's particularly interested in a pair of rare leopards. Jade's attempts to capture the wild cats are immortalized on film by Sam Featherstone, a World War I flying ace turned moviemaker and, not incidentally, Jade's boyfriend. The globetrotting adventuress teases her friend Madeline Thompson about Maddy's overheated but bestselling adventure novels, with titles like Ivory Blood and Stalking Death. The mood turns dark, however, when Sam discovers a corpse in the Thompsons' coffee dryer. The dead man is Martin Stokes, owner of Stokes and Berryhill Store in Nairobi, the very man who sold Maddy and her husband Neville the coffee dryer. Stokes' wife Alice has recently gone missing; an ad placed in the local paper, presumably by Stokes, seeks help in finding her. When Sam is implicated as Stokes' killer, plucky Jade, whose interests include flying airplanes and taking photographs, turns sleuth once more. A dangerous plane crash thickens the plot for the supporting cast of colorful colonials who serve as suspects. A lively mystery adventure with a strong sense of both its historical period and its exotic locale.

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