Category:  Action/Thriller Publisher: http://www.ebooksonthe.net ISBN-10:  0970102046 Copyright: Apr 1 2000 Alex Masters and Lieutenant Cole Armstrong are back together again, fighting each other and crime in Bay City. In the sequel to "Dead Birds Don't Sing" Alex Masters is still awaiting trial for murder after spending a year in the Bay City Jail. Her new lawyer has gotten her out from behind bars, placed under house arrest instead and put into a Work Rehab program. She's doing clerical work at the police station of all places . Her "probation" officer can monitor her movements 24 hours a day on computer through the bracelet she has to wear. Meanwhile, someone is strangling the prostitutes in Bay City, and Alex is being stalked. Cole Armstrong, now a Lieutenant on the Homicide squad wants Alex to use her connections and inside information to help them catch the strangler. Alex wants Cole and his band, Ancient Rebellion, to use some of the music she wrote while in jail. Once again they form a precarious alliance to attain their means and Alex ends up face to face with a killer one more time.

JailBird review by Molly Martin
Jailbird Brenda M. Boldin E-Books on the Net, 2001 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED 5 STARS Alex Master has spent a year in Bay City Jail before her new attorney has gotten her released and placed in a Work Rehab Program. Alex is doing clerical work at the police station, she is wearing a monitoring bracelet so that her movements can be checked 24/7 and Homicide officer Cole Armstrong is still on the force. The Lieutenant has been put in charge of the recent serial killings of prostitutes. The Ancient Rebellion band, Jimmy, Bruce, Woody and Cole, are anxious to have Alex return to singing with them. Alex is stalked by the murderer, ends up in the hospital and Cole is once again in the position of trying to unravel the mystery surrounding this enigmatic woman. In this sequel to her popular 'Dead Birds Don't Sing,' writer Boldin has done it again! This well written narrative is a spellbinder right from the opening prologue in which a young child watches as Mom is killed and on to the last page. Filled with much of the same apprehension Christine Spindler has woven into her 'Faces of Fear' writer Boldin adds a rousing measure of multiple personality, artifice, consternation, annihilation and enough red herrings to keep the most avid mystery reader hooked. Boldin's recurring characters continue to reveal themselves to us in such manner that we want more. Alex is a complex woman beset with horrific demons from the past. Cole continues as likable and unable to fathom Alex as he was in the first book. Boldin has created a credible backdrop filled with just the right mix of snappy dialogue, detailed police setting and hagridden murderer. She again tantalizes us with a bit of a cliffhanger. Will Alex leave Bay City and begin life anew in another town, or will she stay and confront the demons that continue to bedevil her. Armstrong is doing his best to convince her that she should stay. He has begun to understand something of her past and what has caused this bright woman to be 'stuck' in her teens. Alex is as determined to move on. And we can only hope that writer Boldin does not keep us waiting too long before we discover what Alex is up to next.

JailBird review by Lorie Ham
Jailbird, Brenda M. Boldin, http://www.ebooksonthe.net, HTML, RB, LIT or PDF Ebook ($4.50) Some adult language Jailbird is the sequel to Dead Birds Don't Sing (see earlier review of this book on this site), a mystery novel featuring Alex Masters and police detective Cole Armstrong-a very unlikely team, as Alex is a former prostitute trying to make a better life for herself. In the first book that life becomes complicated and she finds herself killing someone to save her own life, an act which she is now facing the consequences for as she is under house arrest while awaiting trial. Before this she spent a year in jail. Alex is also in a work rehab program doing clerical work at the police station where Lt. Cole Armstrong works. Armstrong has his hands full trying to catch a strangler who is killing prostitutes and ends up calling on Alex for help since the victims are women from her old neighborhood. Unknown to Armstrong, as soon as Alex arrived home from jail she began getting strange phone calls and deliveries of dead flowers. Could it be that Alex is being stalked by the strangler? Or could it be someone out for revenge? It nearly costs Alex her life to find out. Though there were some typos here and there, the story was excellent and kept me turning the pages until the end. The chemistry between the two main characters, despite their huge differences, adds a bit of spice to the mix. I look forward to the next book in the series. Reviewed by Lorie Ham, author of Murder in Four Part Harmony & The Trouble with Tenors. www.LorieHam.com