Desert Noir: A Lena Jones Mystery (Lena Jones Mysteries) - Hardcover

Webb, Betty

3.78

665 ratings by Goodreads

9781890208639: Desert Noir: A Lena Jones Mystery (Lena Jones Mysteries)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1890208639 ISBN 13: 9781890208639

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press, 2001

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Survival in the upscale Scottsdale art scene depends on how well a private eye does her footwork...
At the age of four, private detective Lena Jones had been found lying unconscious by the side of an Arizona highway, a bullet robbing her of her memories.

Now the scarred survivor of a dozen foster homes, Lena has vowed to find the truth about her origins—no matter how terrible that truth might be.

In Desert Noir, the first of the Lena Jones mysteries, Lena’s quest is interrupted when her friend, heiress Clarice Kobe, is beaten to death in the Western Heart Art Gallery. Lena and her Pima Indian partner Jimmy Sisiwan at first suspect the art dealer’s abusive husband, but their investigations soon reveal that domestic violence was hardly the only problem in the victim’s troubled life.

Clarice, for all her money and beauty, had a dark side; her enemies far outnumbered her friends. Among those who wished her dead are George Haozous, the fiery Apache artist whose graphic work she once banned from her gallery. Another enemy is Dulya Albundo, the daughter of an elderly Hispanic woman whose death was directly attributable to the art dealer’s greed. Even Clarice’s parents—wealthy land developers whose housing tracts have ravaged the beautiful Sonoran Desert—appear to be oddly untroubled by their daughter’s death.

Lena’s search for Clarice’s killer brings violence back into her own life, yet it also brings her closer to the solution of her own mystery—her real identity.

Set against the backdrop of the posh Scottsdale, Arizona art scene and the nearby Indian reservations, Desert Noir heralds the debut of a detective as wounded as her clients, a woman battling her own demons while trying to rescue others from theirs.

Compare her to J.A. Jance (Hour of the Hunter 0-380-7107-9 and Kiss of the Bees 0-380-97747-8) and Sinclair Browning (The Last Song Dogs 0-553-57940-1).

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About the Author:

Betty Webb is the Book Reviewer and a reporter for the Tribune newspapers in the Phoenix metro area, and lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with her family. Desert Noir is her first Lena Jones mystery.

From Publishers Weekly:

When her friend who runs an art gallery across the street in Scottsdale, Ariz., is brutally murdered, Lena Jones of Desert Investigations decides to track down the killer in this highly accomplished debut of what promises to be an exciting new series. Clarice Kobe's abusive husband, Jay, is the natural suspect, but the Apache artist George Haozous, whose graphically violent paintings were ejected from the gallery not long before, arouses suspicion, as do members of Clarice's family and the owner of the adjoining gallery. And one trail may lead Lena to an answer she has been searching for her entire adult life her own identity: after being shot in the head at age four and left for dead, she grew up in a succession of foster homes. Webb uses these two quests to present a fully realized picture of Arizona, from barrios to mountaintop mansions, with the rich backdrop of Indian legend and desert facing erosion by urban sprawl. The series feel is comfortable, from Lena's contacts on the local police force (before another bullet forced her to go private) to her sleuthing partner, Jimmy Sisiwan, a Pima Indian and computer whiz. Her boyfriend, Dusty, being a Clint Eastwood look-alike seems a bit much, but for every aspect that doesn't quite click, five others do, and the writing is solid and fun: "I'd gotten warmer receptions raiding dogfights"; "At $4 per oyster, the slimy little bastards should deliver multiple orgasms." A must read for any fan of the modern female PI novel. 16-city author tour.

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