Desert Shadows

By Betty Webb

Some books have money written all over them. Books like Recreational Explosives and How to Build Them. Or Finding Your Patriot Ancestors Through DNA Testing. Or Losing America. Yes, Patriot's Blood Press has gone racist, making money from books that play into the worst elements of society and its darkest behaviors. It's no surprise there are plenty of suspects when Patriot's Blood publisher Gloriana Alden-Taylor is poisoned, but the hammer falls on just one: Owen Sisiwan, a Pima Indian. Scottsdale PI Lena Jones enlists in Owen's defense. To her horror, Lena finds herself rubbing elbows not just with greedy Gloriana's family and employees, but with disgruntled authors and extremists of all sorts.

Lena, a survivor of a childhood spent in foster care, is further pained by her sessions with a therapist for anger management. Soon her flashbacks to the time just before her mother shot her four-year-old self accelerate and move her closer to the mystery of her own identity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Release date: Jan 31, 2010
• ISBN: 9781615952250

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 Shadows

[auntieknickers · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Scottsdale private eye Lena Jones investigates a right-wing publisher's murder, and gets a little closer to solving her own personal mystery. Recommended.

[condorena · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Betty Webb places a murder tight in the center of a conference for independent publishers. I found it very educational as well as entertaining. I didn't feel it was as good as DESERT WIVES which I thought was excellent, but I look forward to more of this series.