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The Leopard's Prey: A Jade Del Cameron Mystery

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Leopard's Prey by Suzanne Arruda

There is never a shortage of adventure in Suzanne Arruda's Jade Del Cameron mystery series. Set in colonial Africa in 1920, readers of this series can without a doubt always count on a lot of action, an intriguing background murder to puzzle out, and a genuine feeling of being right there in the time and place on the Kenyan plains.

The reader gets up close and personal with the exotic land of Africa at a time when wild animals ran free, and when native tribes such as the Maasai and Kikuyu had still not fallen into the hands of the white man. As you read, you will smell the hot arid African air, glimpse a sky full of twinkling stars come sundown, and will drive Safari style along a long dusty road in a jeep viewing herds of wild giraffe, buffalo, elephants or zebra.

The star of this delightful series, Jade Del Cameron, is a bit of a too independent rifle-toting, sarcastic spitfire, complete with her own motorcycle that she uses to take her pet cheetah name Biscuit out for a run. Within the four novels so far, one never knows what trouble or adventures she will encounter; anything from Big Game Hunting, outrages of Elephant Poaching, vacations to Morocco with her mother, kidnappings, murders, interactions with the local natives, or as in this new installment, soaring high in the sky with her love interest Sam Featherstone as he instructs her in flying lessons.

The reader always learns something new about Africa in the 1920's with each new installment of the series, and I can only say these stories are very enjoyable, delightful, and engaging. There is usually a sideline murder to solve but they almost seem to be irrelevant. The ongoing scenarios of the usual crowd of characters that appear in each story are what drive the books and allow the reader to get addicted to them. An additional fun feature, are the quotes that are inserted over each chapter head. Jade Del Cameron's way of making a living in Africa is being a professional reporter for a travel magazine called The Traveler. Quotes and paragraphs from her articles are placed in the front of each chapter allowing the reader to also get firsthand information on what is happening locally. In Leopard's Prey, wonderful Maasai myth and culture tidbits appear.

If you enjoy a light and easy simple mystery series with quaint characters that you can rely on to always make you smile, this series will not disappoint. Murder, romance, adventure, action, exotic locale....what more do you need for a few hours of sheer entertainment? Leopard's Prey, the fourth book in the series still holds steady to show us the author is still going strong and has not relented in giving us the goods. I highly recommend this book as well as the previous three in the set, and I eagerly await book five which should hopefully gives us some answers to the cliff hanger Arruda left us with on the last page.

Young, fearless Jade del Cameron is back in her fourth African adventure. Last time, Jade had traveled to Morocco to meet her mother, but this time she returns to all her friends in Nairobi, British East Africa, now Kenya. Coffee farmers Neville and Madeline Thompson are going about their business when they find a body in their newly-purchased coffee dryer. Jade, who's been earning extra cash helping an outfit trap wild animals for a zoo, gets on the case immediately when her special friend, Sam Featherstone, is named as a suspect. Then, when Sam is hospitalized and Jade nearly crashes his plane because of sabotage, she decides to get to the bottom of the murder before Sam becomes the next victim. She investigates the owners of the local mercantile, other colonists, and befriends a few more natives in her quest for the truth, but before it's over, she almost winds up food for a leopard more than once.

The characters in this series are charming, the location is exotic, and Jade is a wonderful heroine. The mystery was decent, too, but this book dragged a bit in the middle, prolonging the growth of Jade's relationship with Sam. It seemed as if there were more scenes of Jade and Sam just missing each other than of actually advancing the story or getting closer to finding the murderer. As usual, though, the location was described in loving detail, as well as the lifestyle lived by African colonists almost 100 years ago. This book was further flavored by descriptions of a changing Africa, as it becomes more settled and also restless while more and more Europeans moved there. Though Jade's stalling relationship with Sam chafes a bit, all around, it's a very decent mystery from a familiar cast of wonderful characters. This a great series that I recommend. Jade is one of my favorite heroines.

Suzanne Arruda's fourth mystery has Jade Del Cameron working for a zoological company in Nairobi, working to save a pair of leopards slated for execution. When bodies are found, Jade also finds herself working to clear her friend of murder charges - and finds herself piloting a plane and landing in African wilderness to face a brutal killer. THE LEOPARD'S PREY is a riveting, fast-paced mystery highly recommended for any mystery collection.

Jade del Cameron is working for an American outfit that's capturing wild animals to take them to zoos in the United States. Shortly after acting as leopard bait, Jade finds the body of a local merchant on a coffee plantation owned by two of her friends. The chief suspect is the man in love with Jade-- Sam Featherstone, an American pilot and filmmaker. Dissatisfied with the way the investigation is going, Jade begins to look into things and discovers that the dead man had his fingers in the sort of pies that would make other people very angry. All Jade has to do is narrow down the list of real suspects. Of course she can never seem to do this without stirring up a bit of trouble: "Can we not leave you alone for a minute, Jade, without your getting kidnapped or involved in something unseemly?" asked Beverly.

In a review of an earlier book in this series, I called Arruda's books my "Saturday matinee reading". The primary reason for this being one of my favorite series has always been escapism. Jade grew up on a ranch in New Mexico. She knows how to ride and how to shoot and how to pitch a tent. She's a former World War I nurse who learned how to take care of her ambulance while shells were bursting all around and wounded men were screaming for help. Now she's in Kenya as a photojournalist, and she's learning to fly. She goes out into the country for a ride on her motorcycle in order to give her cheetah, Biscuit, some quality exercise. Although I have to admit that the idea of going for a run out in the country with my cheetah definitely has its allure, this series is growing into something more.

The "more" is how Arruda shows Kenya and the rest of Africa changing. Populations are exploding in the cities, and as the cities grow out, the wildlife is being chased further and further away. Arruda also begins showing readers the native Kikuyus' unrest as they are required to carry identity papers and travel documents at all times as well as pay the dreaded hut tax. The longer Jade stays in Africa, the more she learns about the people and the land, and we learn right along with her. This time, we learn about the Maasai when Jade crash lands in a plane. Arruda includes several tidbits of Maasai wisdom and folklore in the book, such as the following:

"So you hunt for animals for the white men to take, you hunt for a killer, and you hunt for his wife," Tajewo shook his head. "It is not good to do too much at once. We have a saying. A man cannot walk on two different paths at the same time. It will crack his buttocks."

I like the path these books are taking, away from strictly escapist fare and into a truer depiction of the area and the time. Murder, wildlife, colonial Africa, native customs, and a budding romance-- all this and more is to be found in The Leopard's Prey. The next book in the series, Treasure of the Golden Cheetah, is available starting today. It won't be long until I have my hands on a copy!

Suzanne Arruda has brilliantly created a spellbinding tale of adventure and murder set in 1920's colonial East Africa. It chronicles the engaging adventures of photojournalist/animal rescuer Jade del Cameron in and around Nairobi, Kenya. When a local storekeeper is found dead and her filmmaker boyfriend is named as the lead suspect, Jade ardently investigates all suspicious clues. What follows is a suspenseful story fraught with danger, sabotage and intrigue. Ms. Arruda does a magnificent job crafting a delectable cast of fascinating characters. She beautifully describes the majesty of the exotic Kenyan countryside, with its herds of wild animals and breathtaking scenery. Adding to the ambiance of the storyline are tiny glimpses into the cultures of the native warriors and the problem of civilized society displacing the wild animals' habitat. I absolutely loved this captivating mystery! Once I picked it up, I was not able to put it down! I was thoroughly entertained and therefore, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book.

Not as engaging as the two previous installments, but still entertaining. There was less interaction with the native Africans, which was so entertainig in the first book, and the story was not quite up to the standards of the second. However, it did move the story of the main characters further along their timeline. I wouldn't recommend it for someone without them having read at least the first novel in the series. References to incidents from the first two novels weren't fully explained, but probably aren't too noticeable. Overall, I finished it in an afternoon, and it was a pleasant read.

I have read all these books and love them. They give you a glimpse of life in Africa after the Great War. Jade Del Cameron is a great heroine and her situations only add to the fun in the stories. While the books are not exactly "cosies" they are not the thriller killer type mysteries. They are more for relaxed reading and enjoying the journey through the landscape and period in time.

I've found a new heroine to cheer for: Jade Del Cameron in The Leopard's Prey by Suzanne Arruda. Jade was an ambulance driver in World War I and now (after the war) finds herself drawn to British East Africa. An independent, single woman, Jade struggles to make a living as a writer in post-war times. "Writing articles for the Traveler paid well enough, but traveling anywhere to write about a new location had grown more expensive, especially with the current petrol shortage." It may sound familiar--except this action is happening in the 1920's on another continent.

Jade takes on odd jobs to supplement her income. Her current job of wrangling and photographing exotic animals gets this gutsy action figure into some tight places. Jade even uses herself as leopard bait in a last-ditch effort to trap the animal and save it from being shot when it stalks its prey too near a village. She is dedicated to finding a place for herself while preserving a vanishing way of life. When a man is found dead on a friend's coffee plantation, Jade sets out to clear her friends' names and find the true killer.

The descriptions of the African continent, with its exotic natives and wildlife, make a great setting for adventure. Little touches, such as the style of clothes and the types of soap commonly in use, show that the author has done her research into the area and its history. Add a little romance, some entertaining characters, a dash of male posturing, and a lot of danger and you have the recipe for a wonderful series of mysteries in an historical setting.

by Rhonda Esakov
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

This was the first Jade del Cameron mystery I have read. I bought this book on a whim at a going out of business sale because I figured if I didn't like the story I certainly liked the cover. Jade is a great heroine! She is headstrong and independent, but has a softer side to her too. She is definately one of the coolest leading ladies I've read about in a long while. She flies airplanes, has earned unique tribal tatoos, and even has a pet leopard named biscuit!

Something that other readers may not like is that the author makes mention of Jades past adventures. However, these are all fully explained in the story. I loved this feature about the book but now can't decide to continue on to the next book or go back and read the others first! The story was fun and exciting and I can't wait to read all of Jade's adventures!

This series of Jade del Cameron mysteries is set in east Africa in the 1920's. The books are interesting in that they give you a glimpse of the life and culture of the British settlers and native peoples in Africa in the early 1900's. Jade is a "bigger than life" heroine. She flies a plane, rides a motorcyle, lariats wild animals, shoots a rifle better than any man, carries a knife in her boot...you get the picture. The series reminds me of a grown-up version of the Nancy Drew mysteries I read as a young girl. The books aren't great literature, but they are fun to read. They make for good long weekend or rainy day reading when you just want to get lost in a fun novel. The mystery here was pretty good; kept me guessing until the end! In this one, number four in the series, Jade's coffee farmer friends, Maddy and Neville, find a dead body in the coffee drier they just purchased. Jade is in the area helping some Americans collect animals for a zoo and her beau and flying ace, Sam, is doing a documentary film about the coffee farm. Sam is one of the suspects in the murder and Jade is determined to clear his name.