NO GOOD DEED (Sonora Blair Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Lynn Hightower (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 13, 1998 | Series: Sonora Blair Mysteries

The first time Sonora saw the farm, it was dusk, and there were horses running in the paddocks.  It did not seem like the kind of place where a young girl of fifteen could saddle up a horse for an afternoon ride, and never come back...

Joelle Chauncey did not disappear without a trace -- she left blood, and a discarded riding boot.  Cincinnati police detective Sonora Blair, a single parent herself, has a feeling this child is not coming back.  Tracks from a horse trailer indicate both Joelle and the mare she was riding were taken together.  Who was the target--the girl, or the horse?

Nobody saw a thing.  The farm owner, Donna Delaney, was out.  The uncomfortably handsome veterinarian from the farm next door heard nothing.  The girl's father, a single parent, was at work.

Joelle's disappearance is only the beginning ...  and after a grisly mutilation at the barn, no one is getting involved.  But crime talks, and Sonora is led by an eerie and unsettling presence, a killer wrapped in layers of internal conflict, a killer who will follow a bizarre path of good and evil, and dark compulsion.   No Good Deed is the story of a child's brutal abduction . . . a lover's betrayal . . . and a good cop's journey into the darkness.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Lynn Hightower's female characters take no prisoners. Sonora Blair, tough-but-vulnerable Cincinnati police detective, knows the father of 15-year-old Joellen Chauncey is involved somehow in his daughter's mysterious disappearance. But Sonora's boss, partner, and colleagues think she's crazy. Dixon Chauncey is a devoted single father of three, and a mild, self-effacing milquetoast who's much too "squishy" to be a suspect. Sonora doesn't buy the official line--that Joellen got caught between two feuding scam artists involved in a thoroughbred swindle--not even when the girl's body turns up, along with an empty, blood-spattered horse trailer. Sonora won't ignore what her gut tells her. And when Joellen's diaries open up a whole new line of investigation tied into a missing children's network, she renews her efforts to find the crack in Dixon's façade. The plot is full of seductive McGuffins: the owner of a riding school who lands in the hospital minus a finger; a mysterious and sexy stranger hanging around the barn. The narrative meanders a bit, taking in Sonora's failings as a single mother to her own kids, her impulsive decision to buy a horse, and her overactive libido (which fastens itself on three different men in a little over 300 pages). But the book is crisply written, with resonant characters and a suspenseful narrative. It's a special treat for horse fanciers. --Jane Adams

From the Publisher

"Lynn Hightower is a major talent."
--Jonathan Kellerman

An Alternate Selection of the Mystery Guild

Praise for Lynn S. Hightower's previous novels:

Eyeshot

"A tautly plotted, engaging story, enlivened by crisp dialogue."
--Booklist

Flashpoint

"Rings with gritty authenticity. You won't be able to put it down and you won't want to sleep again. Riveting."
--Lisa Scottoline

Satan's Lambs

"Never a dull moment . . . a plot that moves."
--Tony Hillerman

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press; 1 edition (April 13, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038532359X
• ISBN-13: 978-0385323598
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,927,908 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!, November 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: No Good Deed (Sonora Blair Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I am a fan of good detective fiction. But sadly, I have found that many pieces of the genre fail to thrill and satisfy me the way Hightower has with NO GOOD DEED. After reading this book, I can easily place Lynn S. Hightower in the same category as John Grisham. Hightower's heroine Sonora Blair is both bewitching and believable. And the ending is a jolt! (As endings should be with any good piece of detective fiction.)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I'm surprized I hadn't discovered Hightower earlier!, December 28, 1998

By 

Christine Smith ([e-mail]) (NE Metro Detroit, Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: NO GOOD DEED (Sonora Blair Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Lynn Hightower spins a good detective/cop story. This one is set in the lower echelons of the horse business, and the auction scenes may break your heart, as they did that of the heroine, Sonora Blair. The plot was intricate and absorbing, had enough twists and turns to keep a veteran reader of this genre interested, and had good characterization, especially of the harried life of a working mother/police detective/single woman seraching for love & romance protagonist, Sonora. And I liked the setting of horsey Cincinnati, even though I'm not particularly horse-enamored. It made me want to take a drive through the area and look again at the marginal horse farms, not just the ritzy ones.

I liked this book well enough to go searching for other detective mysteries by Hightower.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars recommended, June 12, 2003

By 

David Group (Buffalo, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: No Good Deed (Sonora Blair Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

This was one of the most enjoyable mysteries I have read so far this year. Hightower's attention to detail is just right, making me feel at times like I was reading a true-crime book. I haven't read any of her other novels (yet), but if they're like this one, then this ranks with one of the best series on mystery fiction. I've docked the novel one star because an important clue was not discovered until the end.