"Joan and I have appeared on writer's panels together, but this is the first of her books that I've read. I was delighted at the wonderful way Joan draws word pictures. In this tale of intrigue in the Sacramento Delta, she places you in the picture and you see what the characters see. In fact, I developed a short writer's workshop entitled, "The Art of Drawing Word Pictures," after reading this book. Check it out and see if you can guess the twist ending. Way to go, Joan. "