Desert Noir

May 21, 2001
When her friend who runs an art gallery across the street in Scottsdale, Ariz., is brutally murdered, Lena Jones of Desert Investigations decides to track down the killer in this highly accomplished debut of what promises to be an exciting new series. Clarice Kobe's abusive husband, Jay, is the natural suspect, but the Apache artist George Haozous, whose graphically violent paintings were ejected from the gallery not long before, arouses suspicion, as do members of Clarice's family and the owner of the adjoining gallery. And one trail may lead Lena to an answer she has been searching for her entire adult life—her own identity: after being shot in the head at age four and left for dead, she grew up in a succession of foster homes. Webb uses these two quests to present a fully realized picture of Arizona, from barrios to mountaintop mansions, with the rich backdrop of Indian legend and desert facing erosion by urban sprawl. The series feel is comfortable, from Lena's contacts on the local police force (before another bullet forced her to go private) to her sleuthing partner, Jimmy Sisiwan, a Pima Indian and computer whiz. Her boyfriend, Dusty, being a Clint Eastwood look-alike seems a bit much, but for every aspect that doesn't quite click, five others do, and the writing is solid and fun: "I'd gotten warmer receptions raiding dogfights"; "At $4 per oyster, the slimy little bastards should deliver multiple orgasms." A must read for any fan of the modern female PI novel. 16-city author tour.

June 1, 2001
\deflang1033\pard\plain\f3\fs24 The perfect setting for private eyes used to be the urban jungle, rife with alienation and secrets. More recently, though, such writers as Tony Hillerman and Nevada Barr have opened up regions of landscape, history, and soul previously unexplored by the detective novel. Webb's summer mystery, a first novel, shows how fertile the desert can be as mystery setting. \plain\f3\fs24" Desert Noir \plain\f3\fs24 can be seen as an elegy for the lost West. \plain\f3\fs24" Noir \plain\f3\fs24 kicks off its social commentary at the height of the Summer Spectacular Art Walk in Scottsdale. Just when the tourists are being scammed to the max, a scream leads former-cop-turned-PI Lena Jones into her friend Clarice's kitschy art gallery, where Clarice is found stabbed to death. The obvious suspect is Clarice's abusive ex-husband. Lena finds, however, when she takes on the investigation, that any number of people, from all social levels, wanted Clarice dead. Untangling the mystery leads Lena through the social levels of Phoenix, from the tony desert resorts, through the Apache-run casinos and the San Carlos Reservation, to the Sonoran Desert itself. Another mystery strong on atmosphere and insight. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)