Trade Ellis
Created by Sinclair Browning

For those of you with a hankering for a bit of western in your mysteries, why doncha mosey on over to your local bookstore and check out The Last Song Dogs, the first book featuring cowgirl TRADE ELLIS who is "a rancher, part Apache and all private eye," according to her author, Sinclair Browning. The books are set in southern Arizona, just outside of Tucson, where Trade works her immense Arizona ranch, Vaca Grande, and takes on the occasional insurance fraud or cheating-spouse case.

A good debut, with more than a dab of ranching detail, horses, cattle, southwest flora and fauna, etc, made this one a pretty tasty read. And the sequels haven't sucked, either...

UNDER OATH

• "...the temptation (is) irresistible to deconstruct...Trade Ellis. She's part Apache and takes part in native American ceremonies. Tony Hillerman? She's single, in her forties, dates sometimes and tells her story with that sometimes world-weary edge of the outsider. Sue Grafton? Plus, when she's not investigating, she's running her family's 600-acre cattle ranch outside Tuscon, Arizona. Hmmm, Marne Davis Kellogg, only without the money? No author would appreciate that kind of treatment, but Trade is composed of such disparate parts that it was hard to take her seriously at first (but) Trade is an amiable detective to follow."
  (Bill Peschel, Rock Hill (S.C.) Herald)

NOVELS

• The Last Song Dogs (1999) . Buy this book
• The Sporting Club (2000) . Buy this book
• Rode Hard, Put Away Dead (2001) .Buy this book
• Crack Shot (2002) .Buy this book
• Traggedy Ann (2003) .Buy this book

RELATED LINKS

• Sinclair Browning.com
  The author's official web site.

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.