THE CHEETAH CHASE

N.Y.: Ballantine Books, 1994. 1st edition, August 1994, so stated with complete number line beginning with 1. Fine in fine dust jacket, not price clipped, in protective mylar cover. "In her third appearance, following Elephants' Graveyard , spirited Jazz Jasper, American owner of a safari company in Kenya and occasional PI, sets out to solve a murder and protect a magnificent and endangered species. On the opening pages, Jazz witnesses the gruesome death, by the sting of a non-indigenous scorpion, of investigative reporter Nick Hunter. Aided by Nick's widow Wynn, an animal-rights activist, and the suave police detective Omondi, Jazz traces Nick's last moves, gradually discerning that whoever is behind his murder may also threaten the survival of the cheetah. She finds herself in the treacherous worlds of illegal poachers, large-scale land developers and the wealthy who think nothing of keeping a cheetah cub as a pet or wearing its fur. Such physical dangers as a plane crash, an attack by Saudi bodyguards and another by lions are all part of a day's work for the resourceful and courageous Jazz, who is also coping with a floundering business and a rocky romance. While McQuillan's characters tend to be good crusaders or evil exploiters, her haunting scenes of a paradise on the verge of destruction will likely move all readers, animal-rights supporters or not." -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. Book.