It looks like this series was originally marketed as science fiction. (After writing all this down, I went to Hightower’s webpage. If you like it, there are a few more stories about Silver, Burnett and the Elaki. If you are a mystery reader and want some fun, light reading, you may want to try this book. There was violence, but nothing that bothered me. This is not a cozy mystery, but it was fine. So she could drop her readers into this new world without needing to explain everything that is different. Hightower has invented a future world with similarities to the place we live in now. The aliens added several twists to the tale which kept me interested in a fairly average mystery. I had listened to one of Hightower’s stories over seven years ago, but this is a different series. They are not usually concerned with deciphering criminal cases, but for some reason they are interested in this one. The Elaki have come to earth and actually solved some of our problems. However, Hightower throws her readers and detectives a curve by including alien life forms in this mystery. If you read mysteries, this is not unusual. The story starts out with a victim escaping a serial killer and the protagonists trying to figure out how to capture the killer. This novel begins like many crime novels. Don’t you know who you’re calling? He grinned at David. Hightower is a Kentucky native, and lives in a small Victorian cottage with a writing parlor. She has studied French and Italian, but is only fluent in Southern. Hightower enjoys canoeing and is witty after two glasses of wine. She is married to The Frenchman, writes full time, shares an office with her Belgian Shepherd, Leo the Lion, plays bad but fierce tennis, loves to dance and is learning to Tango. Hightower spends ridiculous amounts of time curled up reading, but also enjoys small sports cars and tame horses. Hightower’s books have been published in numerous foreign countries, including Great Britain, Australia, Japan, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Israel and The Netherlands. She has received the Shamus Award, and been nominated for the Kentucky Literary Award, the Kentucky Librarians First Choice Award, and the Mary Higgins Clark Award. Her books have been included in the New York Times List of Notable Books, the London Times Bestseller List, and the W.H. Survival jobs include writing television commercials, catering waitress, and bartender for one day.

She also teaches novel writing in the Writer’s Program at UCLA. Lynn Hightower grew up in Kentucky, and graduated from the University of Kentucky, where she studied creative writing with Wendell Berry and earned a degree in Journalism.

Alien nations crack