Carl and Jane Bock have written a third borderlands mystery, titled “Grace Fully,’” featuring locales and communities that residents of the Sonoita/Elgin area will find familiar. The main character, Grace Vieumilliers, is a deputy with the Santa Cruz Sheriff’s office. While Grace is adjusting to life as a newlywed after years of independence, she is faced with the murder of a dear friend while on a hike in the Santa Rita Mountains with the local Plant Club.
Grace specializes in forensic plant evidence for criminal investigations while her husband, Patrice, is part of Fort Huachuca’s top secret investigation team. Along with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s department and Nogales, Sonora Police Department the search for the killer becomes a complicated web of drug trafficking and international crimes.
Co-author Jane Bock has three degrees in botany. Her expertise has earned her international recognition as an expert in plant evidence in criminal investigations. Bock uses her scientific knowledge for fascinating reading as Grace, utilizing the laboratory at Elgin Elementary school, uses autopsy results to identify the victim’s final meal that leads to a French restaurant in Tubac. The web of evidence mounts with love triangles, illegal drug trade, medical clinics on both sides of the border, and shady French restaurant owners.
The Bocks are both retired professors of biology from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Carl has a PhD in zoology and is an ornithologist conservationist. Together they have written three borderland mysteries that reflect the natural beauty and awareness of the local ecology and beautiful surroundings of the Elgin/Sonoita area.