Desert Noir

Lena Jones is tough weather from her past life or what she is going through at present. I love this character and Mrs. Webb has done an excellent job pulling this story together. The mystery, the Arizona setting, the back story of the Pima Indians all of it sets this mystery apart. I fully intend to read the other books in this series and look forward to learning more about Lena Jones.

Lena Jones has issues with bullets. The first bullet scarred her face when she was a child. The second bullet ended her career as a cop. If you want to know about the third bullet, you'll have to read Betty Webb's excellent debut novel, Desert Noir. We catch up with Lena Jones early on in her career as a private eye for Desert Investigations in Scottsdale, Arizona. Her apartment and office are on art gallery row and the dead body that gets the story rolling is an art gallery owner acquaintance of Lena's from across the street named Clarice Kobe. The violent ex-husband is accused and Lena is coerced into working for his lawyer. Clarice Kobe's up-the-hill family, and George Haozous, an angry Native American artist, also become suspects. The mystery plays out among the city [both ritzy and rundown], the rez, and the desert. Other characters include Jimmy Sisiwan, Lena's cyberhead nontraditional traditional Native American partner, and Dusty, Lena's cowboy lover from a local dude ranch. One of my favorite elements in the story is Lena's daily jog to a butte in a park in the middle of the city, a remnant of the once grand desert that has been scarred by the city. There are similarities to Judith Van Gieson's Neil Hamel novels and I suspect that Neil's fans could easily become fans of Lena's. Fans of Tony Hillerman's Leaphorn and Chee novels should appreciate Webb's skillful use of the desert setting and sensitivity to native american culture and realities. I enjoyed Desert Noir immensely and look forward to reading Desert Wives, Betty Webb's second Lena Jones mystery.

With a compelling story and a wonderfully sympathetic female heroine, this book has all of the components of a wonderful mystery. The main character is well-developed and offers hints at an intriguing backstory yet to be developed in future books. I am looking forward to the sequel, "Desert Wives."

Betty Webb is a resident of Scottsdale, Arizona and gives readers an intense perspective of what it's like to live there. Her own personal politics are revealed through the multi-dimensional character of Lena Jones. In fact, all her characters and sense of place are so vivid they practically leap off the page and paint themselves on a cinematic canvas. Not much impresses me anymore. So many novels have cookie-cutter plots and stereotypical characters. Even seasoned authors that I normally like grow stale over time. Betty Webb's set of characters potentially have the depth to transcend these limitations. Lena Jones is a private investigator who left the local police force who views the development and deterioration of the Arizona landscape with a sadness and anger that I share. She is a white woman cast adrift in a sea of unanswered questions as she searches for the truth about her origins and tries to find her friend's murderer. I am overly impressed by this debut and heartily recommend it to everyone. It has it all: romance, angst, and action combined with a heart and soul that is incredibly rare in a world that grows increasingly more violent and fast-paced. Adding to this already rich tapestry are wonderful passages about the Pima Indians and other indigenous people supplanted by the already overdeveloped part of the country.

As a desert mystery writer with my first novel having recently been published, I was greatly impressed by Betty Webb's debut mystery. Set in Scottsdale, it marks the literary birth of Lena Jones--the newest female PI in the long and distinguished line launched by Marcia Muller over two decades ago. Lena Jones knows little about her personal history--as a small child a bullet erased her memory and landed her in a series of foster homes. This case, a mystery involving the art world, gives Lena hope she might discover the truth about her actual identity. It also involves the murder of one of Lena's close friends. There are plenty of suspects ranging from the victim's husband to artists, family members, and professional rivals. In addition to the mystery elements, the novel presents a realistic picture of life in modern Arizona ranging from its deep native cultural roots to its contemporary urban sprawl. All in all, DESERT NOIR marks an impressive and auspicious debut for Betty Webb.