Claire Sharples Series by Rebecca Rothenberg, Taffy Cannon

Microbiologist Claire Sharples escapes a dull research job at M.I.T. and takes a new position in California's San Joaquin Valley. But when a friend dies when his motorcycle plunges into a reservoir, Claire plunges headlong into the tangled politics of California agriculture to solve a deadly puzzle of greed and revenge.

Adjusting to a new job at a California agricultural station, microbiologist Claire Sharples discovers some unauthorized pesticide usage at a local vineyard and a body in an irrigation ditch.

Agribusiness, environmentalists and murder collide in this third novel in Rebecca Rothenberg's critically acclaimed series featuring microbiologist Claire Sharples. Claire plans to use a newly discovered bed of endangered Slate Mountain Mariposa tulips (commonly called shy tulips) in her fight with the U.S. Forest Service to preserve the area--unless desperate loggers get to her first.

Passion, greed, deceit, and murder surface when plant pathologist Claire Sharples discovers a skeleton buried beside the Kern River and finds herself drawn into events of a half-century earlier. Set in California's Central Valley, this evocative mystery moves between past and present, exploring the worlds of oil, cotton, and country music... morePassion, greed, deceit, and murder surface when plant pathologist Claire Sharples discovers a skeleton buried beside the Kern River and finds herself drawn into events of a half-century earlier. Set in California's Central Valley, this evocative mystery moves between past and present, exploring the worlds of oil, cotton, and country music. With the help of enigmatic Ramon Covarrubias and his eccentric journalist cousin Yolanda, Claire follows the mystery: Who was singer Cherokee Rose's lost love? Why is it a secret someone will kill to keep? This is a story dictated as much by the nature of the land as by the character of its inhabitants. less