Desert
Lost
A
Lena Jones Mystery
Betty
Webb
Poisoned
Pen Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59058-681-6 (1590586816)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-681-5 (9781590586815)
Publication Date: December 2009
List Price: $24.95
Synopsis (from the publisher): While running surveillance in an industrial section of Scottsdale, P.I. Lena Jones discovers the body of a woman connected to Second Zion, an infamous polygamy cult based in northern Arizona. Lena joins forces with Rosella, a former polygamist sister wife, to find the victim's killer, and soon discovers a shocking secret: in a society where one man can have ten wives, nine men will have none. Second Zion makes certain these possible rivals don't stick around.
Review:
Scottsdale (AZ) private investigator Lena Jones looks into an unusual
case of polygamy and murder in Desert
Lost,
the sixth mystery in this series by Betty Webb.
The life of a PI is not always as exciting as one sees on television.
Lena is pulling one of her more boring jobs -- staking out a storage
yard waiting for taggers to swarm over a wall and spray paint nasty
things on the sides of snowbird's Winnebagos -- when a car pulls up and
dumps the body of a woman on the pavement. She's dressed in the
traditional manner of a sister-wife, that is, a woman who shares her
husband with other women. Believing the nearest polygamist camp to be
hundreds of miles away in Utah, Lena can't imagine how she came to be
here. Somewhat less surprising, though, are the number of boys who, at
18 years old, are kicked out of the polygamist's families by the elder
male, and become street rogues in the states neighboring Utah. Often
poorly schooled, Lena has worked with them in the past, taking them to
safe houses where they can learn a trade.
With the help of a former sister-wife, Lena identifies the dead woman,
Celeste King. But soon afterward, one of boys Lena has helped, Jonah
King, is accused of killing her, his mother. Lena isn't sure whether
he's guilty or not, but he's alone and needs help, and Lena wants to be
there for him ... just as someone was there for her during her own
troubled youth.
The murder mystery plot in Desert
Lost
is often supplanted by backstories and subplots of Lena's own past and
the families of polygamists. Tragic and touching at the same time, they
serve as both a complement to and a backdrop for her investigation, but
also are an important message in and of themselves -- albeit delivered
in a somewhat heavy-handed manner. Still, the mystery itself is
well-crafted, the characters interesting, compelling, and realistically
drawn. Fans of the series will likely count this entry as one of the
author's
best.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Desert Lost and to Poisoned Pen Press for providing an ARC of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2010 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Desert Lost? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series …
Desert
Noir
Poisoned Pen Press (Trade Paperback), June 2001
ISBN-10: 1-89020-870-1 (1890208701)
ISBN-13: 978-1-89020-870-7 (9781890208707)
Desert
Wives
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), January 2003
ISBN-10: 1-59058-030-3 (1590580303)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-030-1 (9781590580301)
Desert
Shadows
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), June 2004
ISBN-10: 1-59058-113-X (159058113X)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-113-1 (9781590581131)
Desert
Run
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), March 2006
ISBN-10: 1-59058-234-9 (1590582349)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-234-3 (9781590582343)
Desert Cut
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), February 2008
ISBN-10: 1-59058-491-0 (1590584910)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-491-0 (9781590584910)
Desert Lost
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), December 2009
ISBN-10: 1-59058-681-6 (1590586816)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-681-5 (9781590586815)
Omnimystery
keywords for Desert Lost
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Location(s) referenced: Scottsdale, Arizona.
