Emmy Award-winning reporter Christina Estes tackles two subjects she knows in her mystery debut; TV journalism and Phoenix. Her Tony Hillerman Prize-winning debut is Off the Air.

Phoenix TV reporter Jolene Garcia is always trying to top her last story and beat the other networks for coverage, especially the one that features her competitor, Jessica “JJ” Jackson. Everyone turns up, though, when there is a report of a death at radio station KFRK. It’s the radio home of controversial talk show host, Larry Lemmon who started the original “Build the Wall” movement in southern Arizona, and opposes immigration. When Lemmon is identified as the deceased, Jolene’s TV station has a coup. She interviewed him just a week earlier, so Jolene has the last interview with the dead man.

One scoop does not make or keep a career in the competitive world of TV news, though. As she struggles to keep up with the competition, or ahead of the national reporters, Jolene has to juggle the station’s emphasis on social media, Tweeting and putting everything on Facebook or Instagram before the actual story. She has a hard time with that because she made a major mistake with a story in the past, and learned to get it right, not just first.

As she tries to uncover the truth about Larry Lemmon’s death, Jolene covers the entire Phoenix area. Threatening notes, and threats at work to remove her from the story, only make her push harder. But, she just might push herself into the attention of a killer.

Estes skillfully incorporates her knowledge of news coverage into her debut. Comparisons with Hank Phillippi Ryan’s Jane Ryland stories will certainly be appropriate. But, as the Hillerman Prize-winning author, she also incorporates Phoenix history and background into the atmospheric mystery. Hopefully, she can continue to juggle both atmosphere and news coverage in future books.

Christina Estes’ website is https://www.christinaestes.com/

Off the Air by Christina Estes. Minotaur Books, 2024. ISBN 9781250863850 (hardcover), 320p.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received a galley through NetGalley in order to review the book for a journal.