Off the Air

DEBUT Journalist Estes successfully incorporates the history of Phoenix, AZ, into this atmospheric Tony Hillerman Award winner. Phoenix TV reporter Jolene Garcia is always scrambling for the next story. All the networks show up when there’s a report of a death at radio station KFRK, home of controversial talk show host Larry Lemmon. Lemmon started the original “Build the Wall” movement in southern Arizona and opposes immigration. When it’s confirmed that Lemmon is dead, Jolene’s station has a scoop. She interviewed him a week earlier for what is now his last interview. Still, she’s scrambling for new angles about the death, as is every other local reporter. Jolene’s police source won’t confirm that Lemmon was poisoned, so she watches as her chief rival breaks the murder story. In her efforts to get the whole story, Jolene covers the entire Phoenix area. Threatening notes, and pressure at work to remove her from the story only make her push harder—and when she attracts the attention of someone who hated Lemmon, she just might have her final interview.