Desert Noir

By Betty Webb

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 owndemons while trying to rescue others from theirs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Release date: May 27, 2010
• ISBN: 9781615952236

Betty Webb

As a journalist, Betty Webb interviewed U.S. presidents, astronauts, and Nobel Prize winners, as well as the homeless, dying, and polygamy runaways. The dark Lena Jones mysteries are based on stories she covered as a reporter. Betty's humorous Gunn Zoo series debuted with the critically acclaimed The Anteater of Death, followed by The Koala of Death. A book reviewer at Mystery Scene Magazine, Betty is a member of National Federation of Press Women, Mystery Writers of America, and the National Organization of Zoo Keepers.

Reviews for Desert Noir

[susan259 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Feels a little bit like Grafton's Kinsey moved to Arizona and got a sidekick...Lena is a runner and drives a beat up car, a former police officer turned P.I...but there was more to this, some nice interweaving of the Native American mythology, Hispanic culture, mystery surrounding Lena's parents, and details of the Arizona arts scene and desert. All in all, I liked it and will be reading the next in the series (Desert Wives).

[judygibson-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

What I liked about this book: good sense of place, strong characterizations.
What I didn't like about this book: too much sermonizing.
Still I liked the main character, Lena, an ex-cop private detective with a brutal childhood. Yet throughout the book I could do nothing but think, you really need a good therapist. Don't know why anyone in any recent history would not have tried to find one.

[c.j.shane · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Desert Noir is the first in Arizona writer Betty Webb’s Lena Jones series. Lena is a private investigator with an office in the arts district of Scottsdale, Arizona. She’s tough and pushy and somewhat impulsive, but we learn she also has a vulnerable side. Lena grew up in the foster care system, and her personal life mystery is trying to figure out why her mother shot her in the head and tried to kill her. Lena has a thing for a cowboy named Dusty, but can’t admit it to herself much less to him because she fears love and commitment. Lena is drawn into a murder case when a casual friend who owns an art gallery nearby is murdered. The book is suspenseful, and it has a lot of interesting characters. The gallery owner turns out to be part of the family from hell. There are some artists on the scene, too, and they add their bit to the story line. Lena has a Native American office assistant named Jimmy. He’s a competent, reliable, and friendly bright spot in her work life. One of the memorable scenes in the book is Lena seeing her jeep for the first time after it got a paint job from some of Jimmy’s Native American friends. Toward the end of the book, the Sonoran Desert is the character that determines whether she and the murderer will live or die. I found this story intriguing and suspenseful. Webb writes a great mystery.

[pammykn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

AUTHOR: Webb, BettyTITLE: Desert NoirDATE READ: 02/05/15RATING: 4.5/B+GENRE/PUB DATE/PUBLISHER/# OF PGS Crime Fiction/2001/Poisoned Pen Press/252 pgs SERIES/STAND-ALONE: #1 in the Lena Jones serisTIME/PLACE: Scottsdale, AZ/presentFIRST LINES: I was admiring the view from my second story window when the screaming started. COMMENTS: This is a book I have been meaning to read for a long time… not sure why I never started the series, just the same old adage … too many books, too little time. I really enjoyed it!. The reason I bumped it up to the top of the mt ranges of TBR was because I was going to Murder in the Magic City where Betty Webb would be attending. I have seen her at other mystery events over the years & guess I just thought enough is enough I really need to read one of her books! Lena Jones is one of those young women w/ a murky past -- not in the sense that she did something wrong & is making a new life, but rather she doesn't know her true beginnings. She grew up in various foster homes and doesn't know her real heritage. She is constantly on a mission to find out but not making much headway. She was only 4 when she was found on the side of the road w/ a head injury & doesn't recall how she got there or what/who went before. She is a private detective and on this 1st outing her neighbor & friend gallery owner Clarice Kobe is beaten to death in her art gallery. There is an abusive ex-husband, artist clients bearing grudges and that only skims the surface of those who really did not find Clarice someone they liked. She comes from a family that has a lot of wealth -- gained by disturbing and destroying the naturalness of the area and developing tact housing projects. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good mystery and especially if you also want to take a virtual trip to the southwest!

[jamespurcell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A P. I. with a very dysfunctional history investigates the brutal murder of her friend, who is from an even more dysfunctional family. Historic, 20th Century Scottsdale provides the author with the opportunity to portray early days as it transforms into a glitzy destination.

[auntieknickers · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Scottsdale, AZ private eye Lena Jones's first case embroils her in a very dysfunctional family's problems. Her past presents its own problems which she will investigate further as the series goes on.

[bookswoman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

First book in the Lena Jones Mysteries and it is a very good book. Lena is a former cop, now a private investigator. Her partner in her business is a Pima Indian (Arizona), her significant other is a worker on a Dude ranch and her former boss is trying to get her to come back to work for him, in an office since the bullet that shattered her hip prevents her from field work.

When a gallery owner across the street from her office is killed, Lena is first hired to prove the almost-ex-husband didn't do it, then works on her own to discover the culprit. With a nasty family, at all levels, a puzzle about Lena's own past and some great history and background on Scottsdale/Phoenix Arizona, this is a page turner from beginning to end. I can't wait to get to the next book in the series.

[wednesdayschild-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When you were fiour someone shot you in the head and abandoned you by the roadside. A passing stranger rushed you to the hospital, saving your life. You spent your young years in one foster home after another and learned some very tough lessons. Now you are an ex-cop, a woman PI, and your bewst friende haws just been brutally murdered in her art gallery, just across the street from your office in down-town Scottsdale. You must find her killer.

[terrib_54 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book does indeed include noir elements as the title might suggest.Anyone who has ever lived in the Phoenix area will recognize much of the setting. Longtime residents will appreciate the author's commentary on the changes to their hometown. The Phoenix area has changed over the years from a "big town" with clean air, wide vistas, and low crime to a sprawling metropolis with smog and the usual big city problems. The author's own heartbreak over these unflattering changes is evident through her main character, Lena.Lena Jones is a likeable wiseass investigator who tries not to think about her tragic childhood in the foster care system. She has patchy memories of her own parents and life with them before becoming a ward of the state. She begins the book as an atheist, but a strange mystical experience in the desert as she struggles to survive leads her to believe there is something more than what is on the everyday surface of life. She's not sure what it is or what to call it, but it serves to help her avoid a consuming hatred and bitterness when faced with the evil actions of others. She is able to see the sad and tragic souls buried beneath ugly and criminal behavior and it is this that allows her to do her job compassionately.As a first novel, I found the plot well crafted and the characters affective (yes, I do mean affective); the author makes you feel something, sometimes strongly, for each of her characters. I was a bit disappointed in the rather high number of "typos" the publisher failed to correct before printing.A well done regional mystery. I'll be back for more from this author.