Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
"A must read for any fan of the modern female PI novel." -Publisher's Weekly
"Betty Webb has painted the Scottsdale landscape as clearly as if she had used paint. The feeling for the country, the people, and the fauna of the Arizona metropolis is evident in every word. Webb has done a masterful job in her first novel." --The Snooper
"Scottsdale and the desert seem to come alive as you read it, sweltering along with the residents. There was a fantaisct tip for desert survival in this book." --Deadly Pleasures
About the Author
Before writing mysteries full time, Betty Webb worked as a journalist, interviewing everyone from U.S. presidents and Nobel Prize winners, to the homeless and polygamy runaways. Most of her books are based on the stories she covered as a reporter. Today she's a volunteer at the Phoenix Zoo, and is also a member of the National Federation of Press Women, Mystery Writers of America, the Society of Southwestern Authors, and Women Writing the West.