Off the Air

October 1, 2023

When controversial talk show host Larry Lemmon dies under murky circumstances in Phoenix, AZ, local TV reporter Jolene Garcia is on the scene (along with a horde of competitors). She was the last person to have interviewed Lemmon, and she's determined to solve his murder. A Tony Hillerman Prize--winning debut; with a 50,000-copy first printing. Prepub Alert.

Copyright 2023 Library Journal

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2024

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. VERDICT Fans of journalistic mysteries will appreciate Estes's debut, which draws favorable comparisons to Hank Phillippi Ryan's Jane Ryland series.--Lesa Holstine

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2024
Estes' debut follows a Phoenix TV news reporter as she struggles to identify a colleague's killer--and possibly land an interview with same. At least Jolene Garcia doesn't have to worry about any more rivalry from Larry Lemmon, the most popular radio host in town: He's probably dead, maybe poisoned, perhaps courtesy of cyanide-laced cookies. No detail, however small, is definite until it's confirmed and attributed, and although Jolene's cop friend, Commander Jim Miranda, is willing to dole out information drop by drop, he won't talk on the record. So Jolene watches in helpless fury as she's scooped by inexplicably Emmy-winning SoCal hairpiece Jessica "JJ" Jackson, outmaneuvered by newbie network reporter Jeffrey Cooper, and stonewalled by differently leaning community activists Phillip Ellys and Ignacio Cortez, whose frequent differences with Larry make his producer, Ralph Flemski, dangle them as likely suspects. Both the likably whiny narrator and her author are less interested in solving the case than in making a case for, or against, the challenges of journalism in the multimedia age. It makes perfect sense that when Jolene is rescued from a face-to-face with a murderer who shows up at their climactic meeting better prepared than she is, her paramount concern is whether she'll get an exclusive on the story. An appended Content Advisory warns that the tale "contains references to abandonment, ageism, animal cruelty, child neglect, classism, homelessness, racism, sexism, sexual coercion, and substance abuse." It's all there, but don't get your hopes up: This is PG homicide. The leading takeaway is a question: Why don't more of those scrums among dueling reporters and sources end in murder?

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March 1, 2024
Jolene Garcia is a reporter for a local TV station in Phoenix. She is tired of boring assignments and hopes for something that will advance her career. When the conservative radio talk show host Larry Lemmon is found dead in his studio, Jolene and her camera man, Nate, think that they may have an advantage covering the story since Jolene did Larry's last interview. Cutthroat competition from local airhead JJ and outsiders from the major networks interfere. While Jolene works to get new details, her boss has just started social media channels for the station, so there is constant pressure for new content. This is testing Jolene's relationship with police detective Jim Miranda, a valuable source as well as a friend. She also has to deal with her nosy neighbor and a stalker. The hard work will yield a great story--if it doesn't kill her. Estes is a reporter, and her debut is a realistic and entertaining book that will show readers the problems facing journalists in the social media era.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 1, 2024
Journalist Estes’s middling debut finds idealistic Phoenix, Ariz., TV reporter Jolene Garcia looking into a high-profile murder. After Jolene produces a series of hit stories about the hazards faced by park rangers, her station superiors move her into a hybrid role where she spends half her week on fluff, and the other half on more heavily reported, consequential work. One such story falls into her lap when Larry Lemmon, a right-wing Rush Limbaugh figure, whom Jolene interviewed a week earlier, turns up dead at the radio station where he recorded his popular talk show. After a little digging, Jolene discovers that Lemmon may have been poisoned after eating cookies dropped off for him by a mysterious woman. Under pressure from her editors to boost ratings and scoop the competition—including Emmy-winning rival reporter Jessica “JJ” Jackson—Jolene struggles to maintain her professionalism while keeping up with the demands of the job. Estes’s background as a reporter lends credibility to Jolene’s investigation, but the plot’s immersion in the politics of contemporary journalism too often clouds, rather than enhances, the core mystery. This fails to make much of a splash.