Last Chance Country — Gwen Moffat

Miss Pink, an intrepid and unconventional murder investigator, is on her way to the remote estate of millionaire Jack Nielsen. She faces a hazardous journey alone, across the empty desert of Death Valley and through formidable mountain passes before reaching an animal sanctuary where pumas, and bighorn sheep, eagles and rattlesnakes are impartially protected. It's the people, Miss Pink finds, who could so with more protection. Soon she is investigating a couple of very puzzling murders, and with all of Nielsen's family and staff as possible suspects. The search for the solution takes her through sandstorm and snowstorm, and up into the mountains twice in pursuit of killers. For an elderly lady who has come to the desert on account of her arthritis, she doesn't do too badly.