Customer Reviews

The Serpent's Daughter: A Jade Del Cameron Mystery

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First Line: "One should never trust the shopkeepers," declared a young man seated across from Jade.

When I picked up the first book in this series, Mark of the Lion, I fell in love. Jade del Cameron, a young American who grew up on a New Mexico ranch, learned how to repair automobiles while driving an ambulance in France during World War I. Ranch life taught her about roughing it out in the wild, being an expert shot with a gun, refusing to put up with fools, and wanting some adventure and meaning in her life. It's now the early 1920s, and Jade is finding that adventure and meaning as a photojournalist in Africa.

With this third book in the series, I find my love affair continuing. Jade has agreed to meet her mother in Morocco in an attempt to patch up their stormy relationship. Her mother, Inez, grew up in Spain dancing with gypsies and riding horses better than anyone else. Now she's a tightly corseted society matron, more concerned with etiquette and the proper clothing to wear for each occasion. Nothing her fiercely independent daughter does is right. Their meeting in Morocco starts off on the wrong foot, but before there's time for any repair work to be done, Inez is kidnapped, and Jade has to find her. Jade's search takes her through Morocco, from Tangier to Marrakesh to a Berber village high in the Atlas Mountains, dodging drug smugglers, slave traders and an old adversary every step of the way.

Although Arruda does provide a great deal of period detail in her books (and I actually learn while I turn the pages), I have to admit that I read them for the sheer escapism. These books are my "Saturday Matinee" reads, reminding me of Tarzan, Indiana Jones, Frank Buck, Karen Blixen, Denis Finch-Hatton, and Beryl Markham. Fans of the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters would probably enjoy them, too. I like to read serious literature-- history, biography, current events, etc.-- but sometimes I just want to have fun when I read. When those times occur, there are few books better than a Jade del Cameron mystery by Suzanne Arruda.

What if Indiana Jones were a woman? No, this isn't about a spicy gender revelation, but rather a rip-roaring adventure set in North Africa in the 1920s. Jade del Cameron drove an ambulance in France during World War I. After the war, she went to Africa instead of returning to the United States. In this third book in the series--Mark of the Lion and Stalking Ivory are the first two--she travels to Morocco to attempt a reconciliation with her Spanish-born mother, Doña Inez Maria Isabella de Vincente del Cameron.

Things don't go well. Doña Inez disappears, Jade discovers a dead body, and she just might be hearing voices from hundreds of years ago. After Jade gets out of the Caves of Hercules, watch out. There are escapes and rescues from crumbling mansions, arduous journeys, wise women, slave traders, and mystical symbols in abundance. Jade is strong, smart, and an expert at using whatever comes to hand: at one point, a rather annoyed snake.

This is the kind of book I would have devoured at fifteen, or twenty-five. It is full of women. Women who regret. Women who reflect. Women who act. Women who keep secrets. Women who hold power. Women who are generous, selfish, silly, nefarious, and brave.

I admit to having a bit of trouble with the style at first. In fact, I had previously tried Stalking Ivory, and put it down after a few chapters. When I realized that the author had adopted a story-telling method to reflect the way stories were written in the 1920s, I fell in love with the book. I'm anxious, now, to go on to the other two in the series.

by Sharon Wildwind
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

In 1920, photojournalist Jade del Cameron reluctantly agrees to meet her prim and proper mother Inez in Tangier, Morocco in hopes they can reconcile their contentious relationship. However, Jade is realistic as she loves globetrotting explorations into out of the way trouble spots while mother is a perfect lady who never perspires let alone sweats.

In Tangier, someone kidnaps Inez. An anxious Jade may feel the planet is not big enough for both of them, but she still loves her mother. She begins a frantic quest to find and rescue Inez with clues taking her to Marrakech and from there to a remote mountainous Berber village. Every step she takes step since starting in Algiers is dangerous especially eluding slave traders who want to sell her and the most dangerous person of all Lilith Worthy.

This terrific action-packed thriller will grip readers from the moment Inez is abducted and never let's go until the final confrontation. The story line is fast-paced especially when Jade is on mission. However, the plot slows down a bit as Suzanne Arruda packs the tale with a deep look at 1920 Morocco especially the Berbers. Fans of historical thrillers will want to read Jade del Cameron third adventure although the previous two contain more of a mystery (see STALKING IVORY and MARK OF THE LION).

Harriet Klausner

The Jade del Cameron mystery novels are some of my favorite "light reading materials" right now. I was reading the books all out of order, and this one finally has me all caught up. Although you can read them out of order and enjoy them, a few things make more sense when you have the full history. These books are set in the 1920's. Jade was an ambulance driver in France in the Great War and is now a writer/photographer for a travel magazine. Africa is where she prefers to spend her time. It is also where her closest friends reside and where she met the man who will be the love of her life (she doesn't know that yet in this novel). In this novel, Jade meets up with her mother in Morocco for a short holiday before they go to pick out a stallion for her mother to take back to her ranch in the southwestern U.S. But almost immediately, they find themselves wrapped up in a hashish and gold smuggling operation spiced with kidnappings (their own), murder, and ancient, local Berber spirits (that's probably not the right word, but you know what I mean). Fun read.

This is the third entry in the Jade del Cameron mysteries. Jade grew up on a ranch in New Mexico and served as an ambulance driver during WWI. Her abilities to survive in extreme circumstances serve her well as her adventures take her to Colonial East Africa. In Mark of the Lion: A Jade Del Cameron Mystery, she searches for the murderer of her dead fiancé's father and in Stalking Ivory: A Jade Del Cameron Mystery, she tracks down elephant poachers. Her latest adventure takes her to Morocco where she is to meet her mother before heading off to Spain to buy a stallion for the family ranch. When Jade's mother is kidnapped, Jade chases after Tangier to Marrakesh. These charming books are part mystery, part Saturday afternoon matinee adventure.

While I have not yet finished reading the book, it is a very pleasant read. I'm not familiar with the author in that I've never read any of Suzanne Arruda's work in the past, but I can truly say that she tells a good story. With every page that I've turned, it felt like I was there in Morroco with Jade Del Cameron. I will definitely purchase more of her books in the near future.

Great series - good characters, great setting and well done plotting. One looks forward to the next and the next.

I've read several titles in the Jade del Cameron mystery series and, like this one, they all are great! Jade is the ultimate heroine and Suzanne Arruda is brilliant in bringing her adventures to life. I can't wait to see Jade on the big screen as the next "Tomb Raider."

This third book in the Jade del Cameron series is most enjoyable. In it the suspense continues throughout. More time is spent in this story exploring Jade's relationship with her mother, who ends up playing an active part in the adventure. The Morocco setting and the exploration of the Berber culture were fascinating. I am waiting expectantly for her next book.

In her previous two Jade del Cameron novels, the author set her heroine's adventures in Kenya. This time, the part-time sleuth/part-time travel writer finds herself in Morocco, on a mission to save her mother and herself from the clutches of her arch-nemisis.

It took me a while to warm up to this one, simply because I loved the East Africa setting of her first two novels. But Jade is as feisty and brilliant as ever in this third book. And as in her other two books, Arruda has woven a mystical/spiritual aspect into the fabric of this story, in a wholly believable way.

I can hardly wait for the next book in the series!