Dante and Jazz: him and her … white and Black … gay and straight. They make a dodgy team at best.
But the race is on to name a killer and rescue a child.
DANTE & JAZZ MYSTERY #2
by Michael Craft
Dante O’Donnell and Jazz Friendly make an unlikely pair of crime solvers, thrust together by iffy circumstances in the so-called paradise of sunny Palm Springs. He’s white and gay, a concierge at a vacation-rental outfit; she’s Black and straight, a private eye on the rebound from a failed marriage.
Maude Movay, a reclusive author of romance novels, is facing a tight deadline for a multimillion-dollar deal. So she checks in at one of Dante’s rentals intending to write a blockbuster, then checks out on a gurney, feet first.
It was murder, all right, and Jazz steps in to help prove who’s guilty. Soon, though, a second tragedy strikes, this one much too close to home. For both Dante and Jazz, the race is on to name a killer, save a fortune—and rescue an innocent child.
Critical acclaim for Desert Deadline
“The gripping yet hilarious second book in Craft’s Dante & Jazz mystery series … bursts with characters who are as quirkily memorable as they are believably human. The writing is sharp and succinct, as is the plotting, carrying the mystery along with brisk confidence. It all culminates into a delicious whodunit … as funny as it is thrilling.”
— BookLife Reviews(Editor’s Pick)
from the indie review service of Publishers Weekly
“It’s fun to see Craft, the author of 19 novels, plot the demise of [an] author, which he does with typical ingenuity and precision.”
— Kirkus Reviews
“Michael Craft is a writer of great charm, and Desert Deadline shows him at his most charming. The mystery is cunningly plotted, but it’s the characters and their relationships that make for such a memorable read.”
— Michael Nava, Lambda Literary Award-winning author of the “Henry Rios” mysteries
“No one delivers a sharp, stylish whodunit like Michael Craft. Romance on the page turns deadly in the desert when Dante and Jazz return in this delightful—and sexy—sequel.”
— Rob Osler, MWA award-winning author of Devil’s Chew Toy
“On the stiletto heels of the inaugural Dante and Jazz mystery, Desert Deadlinedoes not disappoint. Michael Craft imbues his tale with just the right amount of atmospheric magic, both brilliantly sunny and deliciously shady at the same time.”
— Anthony Bidulka, Lambda Literary Award-winning author
“As the flash and flamboyance of Palm Springs is revealed, Dante and Jazz find themselves searching for the emotional links missing in their own lives. Desert Deadline is as much about preserving the magic in relationships as it is about preserving life when a murderer resides too close to home.”
— Midwest Book Review,Diane Donovan, Senior Reviewer
I want to thank you, my readers, for embracing the Dante & Jazz mystery series, which employs a stylistic departure from much of my previous work. Your enthusiasm for last year’s Desert Getaway was not only deeply gratifying, but it was echoed by the book’s Edgar nomination for the Lilian Jackson Braun Memorial Award. The warm reception of that first book has served as validation for the series as a whole and has led directly to this second installment.
This sequel,Desert Deadline, is my 19th published novel. Thank you for wanting more.
