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Lena Jones Mystery #4
Desert Run
Things are never easy for Scottsdale private eye Lena Jones. Her partner in Desert Investigations, Jimmy Siswan, is leaving for an upscale wife and a job at Sun Microsystems. Her old Captain at the Scottsdale PD is off home to Brooklyn. She's doing security for Warren Quinn, director of a documentary being shot at Papago Park about the German POW camp and the ""great escape"" of Christmas Eve, 1944, when some prisoners tunneled out and fled. And one surviving escapee, Kapitan zur Zee Erik Ernst, a man in his nineties confined to a wheelchair after a boating accident, has just been murdered. Worse, his Ethiopian care giver begs Lena to clear him.
Lena, experienced in probing the past for answers to the central mystery of her own life--who is she?--learns that Ernst and two other POWs hid out in the rugged Superstitions. Nearby, on Christmas night, a whole farm family, the Bollingers, was slaughtered. A jury didn't convict the only survivor, the teenage son. What might Chess Bollinger know about Ernst--and vice versa? And how much can Lena trust Quinn, either as a client, a witness, or a lover?
A complex, stunning case based on real Arizona history, journalist Betty Webb, author of Desert Noir, Desert Wives, and Desert Run, spins an evocative, haunting story.
Lena, experienced in probing the past for answers to the central mystery of her own life--who is she?--learns that Ernst and two other POWs hid out in the rugged Superstitions. Nearby, on Christmas night, a whole farm family, the Bollingers, was slaughtered. A jury didn't convict the only survivor, the teenage son. What might Chess Bollinger know about Ernst--and vice versa? And how much can Lena trust Quinn, either as a client, a witness, or a lover?
A complex, stunning case based on real Arizona history, journalist Betty Webb, author of Desert Noir, Desert Wives, and Desert Run, spins an evocative, haunting story.
346 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2006
32 people are currently reading
140 people want to read
About the author
Betty Webb
24 books202 followersAs a journalist and literary critic for more than 20 years, Betty -- a resident of Scottsdale, Arizona, where her detective Lena Jones also lives -- has interviewed U. S. presidents, Nobel prize-winners, astronauts who’ve walked on the moon, polygamy runaways, the homeless, and the hopeless.
Now retired from journalism to write full time, she also contributes the Small Press column for Mystery Scene magazine and teaches creative writing at Phoenix College.
In her writing, Betty makes liberal use of her own varied background. She earned her way through art school by working as a folk singer but eventually gave up singing to concentrate on her art career. At various times she has picked cotton, raised chickens which laid blue eggs (Speckled Hamburgs), worked in a zoo, been a go-go dancer and horse breeder, taught Sunday School, founded a literary magazine, helped rebuild a long-abandoned 120-year-old farm house, and back-packed the Highlands of Scotland alone.
In 1982, Betty moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, where her Lena Jones novels are set, but her roots are in Hamilton, Alabama, where most of her extended family still lives. In 2000 she published The Webb Family of Alabama: Survivors of Change, which focused on the descendants of her half-Seneca, half-English great-great-grandfather, William Douglas Webb, who ran away to sea at the age of 16, then after 14 wild years, settled down to farm peacefully in Hamilton. Recent DNA testing, however, has revealed that her seafaring ancestor harbored a big secret: he might not have been a Webb after all, but the descendant of a New Jersey colonist family named Price. Betty is now working to unravel this real-life mystery: did William Douglas Price change his name to Webb. Was he on the run from the law? (As a mystery writer, she kinda hopes he was)
On her mother’s side, Betty can trace her roots back to the Barons of Riddell in medieval Scotland. The Riddells, friends and financial supporters of the poet Robert Burns, did not always enjoy the best of reputations. The opera, Lucia di Lammermore, about a young bride who decapitates her husband on their wedding night, was based upon a real life incident in the Riddell family. But the Riddells maintain that Lucy (her real name) merely scratched her bridegroom, and that he simply overreacted when he screamed out, "Murder!" Anyway, that’s the Riddells' story and they're sticking to it.
"The impact of my unusual family upon my life has been profound," Betty says. "That's why I thought it would be intriguing to create a detective who had no idea of where she came from or who her parents were. Creating the orphaned Lena Jones has helped me appreciate my own ancestral heritage - both the good and the bad." About the recent DNA testing results, she adds, "All this time the Webbs were keeping an even bigger secret than the Riddells -- and they didn’t even know they were! How could I not have become a mystery novelist."
(from http://www.bettywebb-mystery.com/bio....)
Series:
* Lena Jones Mystery
* Gunn Zoo Mystery
Now retired from journalism to write full time, she also contributes the Small Press column for Mystery Scene magazine and teaches creative writing at Phoenix College.
In her writing, Betty makes liberal use of her own varied background. She earned her way through art school by working as a folk singer but eventually gave up singing to concentrate on her art career. At various times she has picked cotton, raised chickens which laid blue eggs (Speckled Hamburgs), worked in a zoo, been a go-go dancer and horse breeder, taught Sunday School, founded a literary magazine, helped rebuild a long-abandoned 120-year-old farm house, and back-packed the Highlands of Scotland alone.
In 1982, Betty moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, where her Lena Jones novels are set, but her roots are in Hamilton, Alabama, where most of her extended family still lives. In 2000 she published The Webb Family of Alabama: Survivors of Change, which focused on the descendants of her half-Seneca, half-English great-great-grandfather, William Douglas Webb, who ran away to sea at the age of 16, then after 14 wild years, settled down to farm peacefully in Hamilton. Recent DNA testing, however, has revealed that her seafaring ancestor harbored a big secret: he might not have been a Webb after all, but the descendant of a New Jersey colonist family named Price. Betty is now working to unravel this real-life mystery: did William Douglas Price change his name to Webb. Was he on the run from the law? (As a mystery writer, she kinda hopes he was)
On her mother’s side, Betty can trace her roots back to the Barons of Riddell in medieval Scotland. The Riddells, friends and financial supporters of the poet Robert Burns, did not always enjoy the best of reputations. The opera, Lucia di Lammermore, about a young bride who decapitates her husband on their wedding night, was based upon a real life incident in the Riddell family. But the Riddells maintain that Lucy (her real name) merely scratched her bridegroom, and that he simply overreacted when he screamed out, "Murder!" Anyway, that’s the Riddells' story and they're sticking to it.
"The impact of my unusual family upon my life has been profound," Betty says. "That's why I thought it would be intriguing to create a detective who had no idea of where she came from or who her parents were. Creating the orphaned Lena Jones has helped me appreciate my own ancestral heritage - both the good and the bad." About the recent DNA testing results, she adds, "All this time the Webbs were keeping an even bigger secret than the Riddells -- and they didn’t even know they were! How could I not have become a mystery novelist."
(from http://www.bettywebb-mystery.com/bio....)
Series:
* Lena Jones Mystery
* Gunn Zoo Mystery
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
January 12, 2020
This is a fast easy read that is set in Scottsdale AZ. Lena Jones is a private eye who knows well some, maybe most, of the dark site of life. That helps her survive and sometimes flourish when pitted against those wishing to conceal a deadly past and present.
December 1, 2016
A German POW camp was located in the Arizona desert. In 1944 a number of prisoners dug a tunnel under the camp and on Christmas eve escape from the camp. Betty Webb has brought the occasion to life in this book.
Lena Jones is acting as a security consultant for the Hollywood movie of the escape into the desert. The Kapitan Zur See Erick Ernst is featured on the show. He is found with his mouth tape, and duck tape to his wheelchair and murdered in his home. The Ethiopian servant is arrested for his murdered. That same Christmas Eve a farm family living near the POW camp is viciously murdered. The surviving son is tried for the murders but found innocent. However, he has been convicted by public opinion.
Lena long time assistant, Jimmy Sisiwin is taking a job with a client of the agency. Her Capitan of the Scottsdale Police Department is moving back to Brooklyn. Lena is feeling as usual those she has become attach are leaving her again. Lena starts an affair with director of the movie. These various themes are skillfully brought together to make a tale that will grip until the book is finished. This book can be read as a standalone. I highly recommend this book and series.
Lena Jones is acting as a security consultant for the Hollywood movie of the escape into the desert. The Kapitan Zur See Erick Ernst is featured on the show. He is found with his mouth tape, and duck tape to his wheelchair and murdered in his home. The Ethiopian servant is arrested for his murdered. That same Christmas Eve a farm family living near the POW camp is viciously murdered. The surviving son is tried for the murders but found innocent. However, he has been convicted by public opinion.
Lena long time assistant, Jimmy Sisiwin is taking a job with a client of the agency. Her Capitan of the Scottsdale Police Department is moving back to Brooklyn. Lena is feeling as usual those she has become attach are leaving her again. Lena starts an affair with director of the movie. These various themes are skillfully brought together to make a tale that will grip until the book is finished. This book can be read as a standalone. I highly recommend this book and series.
June 12, 2016
I like this series by Betty Webb. This is my fourth one and she is a solid 4 stars for me. I love the MC. She is damaged, but funny. She is an ex-cop, turned Private Investigator. There are also some great supporting characters that add depth and understanding. I like the humor as well. So all this adds up to 4 stars.
The author also does her research. I always feel like I learn something new while reading her books.
The author also does her research. I always feel like I learn something new while reading her books.
March 1, 2017
This is an excellent series and I wish it got more recognition. I always feel like I learn something when I read these. This one deals with a German POW escape on Christmas Eve 1944 (something that really happened), murders that happened afterward and murders today. Are they all somehow related? Great story. Recommend!
December 21, 2017
Desert Run by Betty Webb continues the series featuring private investigator Lena Jones. Lena and her partner, Jimmy, are planning for the future when he marries and leaves the company for a new job. Lena has been hired to provide security for a movie company who is on location in Arizona. She gets drawn into a mystery that has its antecedents in World War II and also becomes romantically involved with the film director. Another good outing for Lena!
April 25, 2019
It took me awhile to get into this story, but it grew on me as more and more information about the characters unfolded. In 1944, 28 German POWs escaped from the American prison camp called Camp Papago in Scottsdale, AZ. This is the story of the murder of one of those prisoners 60 years later, and the domino effect that had Lena Jones hot on the trail. It also includes a bit of romance for herself, albeit with a great deal of untrusting on her part, and the loss and near-loss of two friends essential in her life. Decent storytelling.
August 26, 2014
Past Murders Recalled
Past Murders Recalled
In 1944, German POWS escaped from a prison camp in Arizona. This real event provides the inspiration for this Lena Jones adventure. Was the escape related to the massacre of a family that occurred nearby at about the same time? Is the filming of a documentary about the escape triggering new murders? Can murders sixty years apart really be connected? Lena is working on the behalf of a man charged with a recent murder and to prove him innocent she must answer all of these questions while dealing with changes and problems in her own life. This is a complex and action packed mystery.
Past Murders Recalled
In 1944, German POWS escaped from a prison camp in Arizona. This real event provides the inspiration for this Lena Jones adventure. Was the escape related to the massacre of a family that occurred nearby at about the same time? Is the filming of a documentary about the escape triggering new murders? Can murders sixty years apart really be connected? Lena is working on the behalf of a man charged with a recent murder and to prove him innocent she must answer all of these questions while dealing with changes and problems in her own life. This is a complex and action packed mystery.
May 12, 2015
Once again, Betty Webb has given a cast of characters to spend time with, get to know, either love or hate all woven into a mystery that keeps on giving. I love Lena! This particular book was more interesting to me because of the locale. I worked on Papago for 12 years and heard about the escape many times. This was a great read and I look forward to the next Lena in the series.
August 25, 2013
Another good book.
December 4, 2024
In “Desert Run” Lena Jones P.I. is hired by a film company which is working on a documentary concerning a Nazi prison escape towards the end of WWII.
The escape - based on a real event - was led by a sadist, Captain Erik Ernst, and, in total 28 prisoners escaped from Camp Papago, Arizona. All but two were re-captured.
After the breakout a local family was slaughtered in their farm home. The surviving son was charged with the murders but was cleared in a jury trial.
What the reader knows from an early stage, but Lena doesn't, is that (a) the Captain definitely killed the wife.
Now, 42 years later, the Captain is found tortured and dead. The body count continues to rise but Lena, despite exhaustive research and interviews, is unable connect the dots to make a coherent story.
Lena has always thought of herself as a loner and has only recently, helped by a psychiatrist, begun to come out of her shell. Just as most of the people closest to her distance themselves from her – Jimmy, her P.I. partner gets a new job, and her former boss, Police Chief Captain Kryzinski, has quit the force and moving to Brooklyn.
She wants to be a functioning adult but can't quite think her way through it - “... leaving me wide awake to reflect on love, men and family. … I wasn't sure I had the nerve for any one of the three.”
Luckily she's got a new boyfriend, the director of the documentary.
The nature of the series means that the reader has to bear with quite a bit of repetition, particularly in relation to Lena's nightmares, her earliest memories, and the abuse she suffered in various foster homes.
I quite like Lena but sometimes wish that the books were faster to read.
3 Stars.
The escape - based on a real event - was led by a sadist, Captain Erik Ernst, and, in total 28 prisoners escaped from Camp Papago, Arizona. All but two were re-captured.
After the breakout a local family was slaughtered in their farm home. The surviving son was charged with the murders but was cleared in a jury trial.
What the reader knows from an early stage, but Lena doesn't, is that (a) the Captain definitely killed the wife.
Now, 42 years later, the Captain is found tortured and dead. The body count continues to rise but Lena, despite exhaustive research and interviews, is unable connect the dots to make a coherent story.
Lena has always thought of herself as a loner and has only recently, helped by a psychiatrist, begun to come out of her shell. Just as most of the people closest to her distance themselves from her – Jimmy, her P.I. partner gets a new job, and her former boss, Police Chief Captain Kryzinski, has quit the force and moving to Brooklyn.
She wants to be a functioning adult but can't quite think her way through it - “... leaving me wide awake to reflect on love, men and family. … I wasn't sure I had the nerve for any one of the three.”
Luckily she's got a new boyfriend, the director of the documentary.
The nature of the series means that the reader has to bear with quite a bit of repetition, particularly in relation to Lena's nightmares, her earliest memories, and the abuse she suffered in various foster homes.
I quite like Lena but sometimes wish that the books were faster to read.
3 Stars.
January 7, 2020
The more Lena Jones I read, the more I'd like to have lunch with her. Lena's back story is dribbled out in tantalizing little crumbs (at least so far) and I want to know more.
This particular entry in the Jones saga is based on a real story: present-day Papago Park in Scottsdale AZ was the site of a WWII prison camp for captured U-boat commanders and sailors. A group of prisoners completed an escape tunnel and made a run for it on Christmas Day, not knowing that Arizona 'rivers' run mostly dry and are not good choices as a way to get to Mexico as a means to be repatriated to Germany. Some of the escapees were never caught, resulting in an open cold case that may tie in to a present-day murder. It's a terrific plot device. Betty Webb fills in the story in the afterward.
All her characters are believable, probably because they are presented with flaws along with their strengths. We're all broken, one way or another.
I lived in Phoenix for 13 years and Webb's descriptions of the Valley and environs are spot on. Even better, her descriptions of fumbling public service agencies are also spot on - I think I have recognized several that were ripped straight from the headlines of the Arizona Republic. Thank you, Ms. Webb, for a delicious series.
This particular entry in the Jones saga is based on a real story: present-day Papago Park in Scottsdale AZ was the site of a WWII prison camp for captured U-boat commanders and sailors. A group of prisoners completed an escape tunnel and made a run for it on Christmas Day, not knowing that Arizona 'rivers' run mostly dry and are not good choices as a way to get to Mexico as a means to be repatriated to Germany. Some of the escapees were never caught, resulting in an open cold case that may tie in to a present-day murder. It's a terrific plot device. Betty Webb fills in the story in the afterward.
All her characters are believable, probably because they are presented with flaws along with their strengths. We're all broken, one way or another.
I lived in Phoenix for 13 years and Webb's descriptions of the Valley and environs are spot on. Even better, her descriptions of fumbling public service agencies are also spot on - I think I have recognized several that were ripped straight from the headlines of the Arizona Republic. Thank you, Ms. Webb, for a delicious series.
January 28, 2018
Lena Jones series, book #4. My library doesn't have the first three books on audio so I am coming into the series late. Webb is a local author and I love that her Desert mysteries are based on true events. This one is about escapees from a WWII POW camp at Papago Park. I didn't even realize that there had been a POW camp at Papago! I also loved her Gunn Zoo mystery series.
May 18, 2021
I loves the mystery from beginning to end. It took me to almost the ending to figure out the suspect and was surprised. I really enjoyed the Arizona history lesson. I lived in Arizona for 43 years and didn't know that.
January 18, 2022
This is the fourth book in a mystery series about a private investigator who lives in Scottsdale. She drives around on the same roads I do and eats at the same restaurants. It's awesome to read a book set in the same area where I live.
- Karen S.
- Karen S.
September 19, 2018
I thoroughly enjoyed this Lena Jones outing. I especially liked the historical aspect of it. The whodunit of the mystery kept me guessing up to the very end.
September 29, 2018
A good read.
December 14, 2019
Deus ex machina...the stories are interesting but the solutions seem to always come from sudden inspiration than a stringing together of the facts...three stars.
March 21, 2020
Webb uses an historical event, a German POW camp by Phoenix, as a basis for her story. The excellent research of the camp and an excellent imagination made for a very interesting story.
March 8, 2022
Extra star for Arizona setting and description and an innovative plot that centers on a prison camp for German sailors in World War 2.
August 11, 2024
I read my first Lena Jones mystery almost 20 years ago and decided to pick up where I left off. Betty Webb's books are hard-boiled mysteries mostly dealing with outlaw polygamous sects of the Mormon church in the deserts of Northern Arizona and Utah. Her books tell powerful stories about how women and their illegitimate children are used to file claims for welfare and other government benefits as well as the horrible conditions they live in, e.g. substandard housing, poor health care, lack of education etc. I thought this was pure fiction, but it there really are two sects that exist in the Northern Arizona/Utah area.
December 1, 2024
Loved it. New author for me
April 2, 2012
The fourth Lena Jones mystery and the best of the bunch. It’s great when an author improves as she continues to create a character and a series.
Lena certainly has her share of problems, but instead of becoming another of those sad sack characters who refuse to change and revel in their sadness, she continues to confront her past and work on her issues.
Private Eye Lena Jones has taken a job providing security for a documentary being shot at the site of a WWII German POW camp. Webb moves between the “Great Christmas Escape of 1944” and the present as she tells the story of the prisoners who tunneled out of the camp on Christmas Eve. The night the prisoners escaped, a farm family was slaughtered nearby. Lena searches to find the answers to many questions – who was guilty of the murders?; what happened to the 1939 Oldsmobile convertible kept in the Bollingers barn?; did Nigerian caretaker Rada Tesema have anything to do with the murder of Kapitan Zur See Erik Ernst?
The plot is convoluted but completely enthralling as Lena finds out more about the various people involved in the old story and the current murders. And then there is Lena’s personal life with her old friend and ex-boss planning to move back to New York, her best friend and partner planning to get married and take another job, and her new relationship with the movie’s director.
As always, I recommend starting a series at the beginning, but this book can easily stand alone, with enough of Lena’s back story to keep a new reader in the loop.
Lena certainly has her share of problems, but instead of becoming another of those sad sack characters who refuse to change and revel in their sadness, she continues to confront her past and work on her issues.
Private Eye Lena Jones has taken a job providing security for a documentary being shot at the site of a WWII German POW camp. Webb moves between the “Great Christmas Escape of 1944” and the present as she tells the story of the prisoners who tunneled out of the camp on Christmas Eve. The night the prisoners escaped, a farm family was slaughtered nearby. Lena searches to find the answers to many questions – who was guilty of the murders?; what happened to the 1939 Oldsmobile convertible kept in the Bollingers barn?; did Nigerian caretaker Rada Tesema have anything to do with the murder of Kapitan Zur See Erik Ernst?
The plot is convoluted but completely enthralling as Lena finds out more about the various people involved in the old story and the current murders. And then there is Lena’s personal life with her old friend and ex-boss planning to move back to New York, her best friend and partner planning to get married and take another job, and her new relationship with the movie’s director.
As always, I recommend starting a series at the beginning, but this book can easily stand alone, with enough of Lena’s back story to keep a new reader in the loop.
January 11, 2010
Lena Jones is a tough, beautiful cop turned private detective in Scottsdale Arizona. Found abandoned for dead with a gunshot to the head at four years old has obliterated her memories. The product of mutliple and abusive foster homes, she has been closed off and independent in her life.
Her hard shell is beginning to crack and she starts to open up to the idea that she can create home and live there. Her erstwhile lover, Dusty, has disappeared on a bender and she's starting over tentatively on a new and complicated love.
Her Pima and computer genius partner is leaving her agency for marriage, the suburbs and a corporate job and she needs to find jobs that are bring money in. She's hired for security on the filming of a documentary on WWII German POWs and their desert escape. One of the Germans, Das Kapitain is hired too. When he is abusively murdered, his Ethiopian caregiver is arrested, and then appeals to Lena to take his case. Her questions lead to a years old murder, old wars and old loves bring out new anger and resentment.
A strong and absorbing mystery. Gritty. The evolving Lena is very endearing and pulls you into the story.
Her hard shell is beginning to crack and she starts to open up to the idea that she can create home and live there. Her erstwhile lover, Dusty, has disappeared on a bender and she's starting over tentatively on a new and complicated love.
Her Pima and computer genius partner is leaving her agency for marriage, the suburbs and a corporate job and she needs to find jobs that are bring money in. She's hired for security on the filming of a documentary on WWII German POWs and their desert escape. One of the Germans, Das Kapitain is hired too. When he is abusively murdered, his Ethiopian caregiver is arrested, and then appeals to Lena to take his case. Her questions lead to a years old murder, old wars and old loves bring out new anger and resentment.
A strong and absorbing mystery. Gritty. The evolving Lena is very endearing and pulls you into the story.
Read
September 25, 2012jury, believed he was guilty. Now, 60 years after the original event, one of the Nazis who was in that camp, who escaped that night, and who was allowed to emigrate to America because of his scientific prowess, is murdered. No one likes him. He still loudly proclaims his Nazi principles and loudly proclaims the Nazi views of minorities. There has always been a theory that he and the Germans who escaped during the war were responsible for the death of the family. And now, in addition to her job providing security, Lena is dragged into determining who killed the Nazi because his caretaker, an Ethiopian immigrant is being blamed. Then, two more persons are murdered, Lena thinks, because they know too much about the case, and Lena’s own life is in danger. Her oldest friend, a police detective, is retiring and moving away, and her best friend and business partner is getting married and moving to another company where he’ll make more money. Lena indeed has lots to deal with in this book. The book continues to provide us with Arizona scenery and interesting characters.
July 9, 2015
3.5 stars
Here in Scottsdale for our annual summer vacation I looked in the Nook Shop for something set locally to read by the pool. This book, 4th in the Private Detective Lena Jones series popped up.
It's a standardly structured private eye mystery, and some of the dialogue is more reminiscent of YA fiction, even Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys dialogue, but it is rich in local color, the characters are distinct and well written individuals, and the mystery itself is compelling. In addition, the book deals with real World War II events: during the war a POW camp for captured German military personnel was established in Papago Park, a large local desert area. On Christmas Eve, 1944, 25 Germans escaped through a tunnel they had dug over the preceding weeks. Murders that occurred after that event are apparently connected to murders that occur in the present during an on-location filming of a documentary about the escape. (This called to mind the the terrific Peter Robinson Inspector Banks mystery, "In a Dry Season", which uses a similar World War II - current day connection.)
Here in Scottsdale for our annual summer vacation I looked in the Nook Shop for something set locally to read by the pool. This book, 4th in the Private Detective Lena Jones series popped up.
It's a standardly structured private eye mystery, and some of the dialogue is more reminiscent of YA fiction, even Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys dialogue, but it is rich in local color, the characters are distinct and well written individuals, and the mystery itself is compelling. In addition, the book deals with real World War II events: during the war a POW camp for captured German military personnel was established in Papago Park, a large local desert area. On Christmas Eve, 1944, 25 Germans escaped through a tunnel they had dug over the preceding weeks. Murders that occurred after that event are apparently connected to murders that occur in the present during an on-location filming of a documentary about the escape. (This called to mind the the terrific Peter Robinson Inspector Banks mystery, "In a Dry Season", which uses a similar World War II - current day connection.)
February 17, 2012
This one's another winner in a terrific series starring Lena Jones, a Scottsdale, Arizona, PI with a mysterious early-childhood past. The story involves the Christmas Eve 1944 "great escape" of a group of German POWs from an Arizona prison camp (an event that really happened), the slaughter of a local farm family on Christmas night 1944, a present-day documentary on the great escape being filmed by a Hollywood director, and three present-day murders, one of the victims being the (fictional) leader of the escapees, now in his 90s. Like the previous books in this series, this one has a vivid portrayal of the beautiful desert setting, lots of intriguing, well-drawn characters, a fast pace, and plenty of suspense. Especially recommended for readers who enjoy mysteries set in the Southwest.
September 6, 2010
I usually give her books five stars because I am never dissappointed. I love her writing style and I love her plot line, so I am usually extremely satisfied. There was a couple of things I didnt like about this one though. First of all I do not like warren at all. I really miss dusty even though he had his own problems. Also, I think there was too many characters doing too many things. I felt like the story lines were never going to come together. I am hoping the next one is better.
July 2, 2010
I'm reading this series of books out of order but they are still good. It's fun because they are set in Scotsdale, AZ and places I know I mentioned. Mild use of language. And this book was about the WWII prisoner of war camp the was in Papago Park (never knew there was one). Learned something from reading the book. The star is a PI, Lena, who is over coming a really bad childhood. And she works at becoming a whole person again and doesn't just escuse her behavior on her past.
February 12, 2009
I guess I just really like books where the mystery has roots in the past; this one has its genesis in World War II and the POW camps in the US. So far it's my favorite of Betty Webb's books, but I still need to read Desert Cut.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews