The Bomb Shelter

March 5, 2018
As noted in an introduction, the real-life case of Arizona reporter Don Bolles, one of only a few American journalists murdered in the U.S. in modern times, is the inspiration for Talton’s lively ninth mystery featuring former history professor turned Phoenix sheriff’s deputy David Mapstone (after 2015’s High Country Nocturne). After attending an event commemorating the 40th anniversary of the death of reporter Charles Page, blown up by a car bomb in 1978, Sheriff Mike Peralta, Mapstone’s boss, receives a threatening text: solve the unsolved Page case or your family will suffer the consequences. Peralta asks Mapstone to investigate, and soon he’s on the trail of a series of brutal murders of people who are in some way involved with the decades-old case. Through Mapstone’s wryly witty first-person narrative, Talton expresses his genuine love of Phoenix as it once was, as well as his exasperated but tolerant attachment to the city as it is today. Clear writing, an intricate plot, and credible characters make this entry a winner.

March 15, 2018
Forty years after the car-bomb killing of reporter Charles Page (a crime that echoes the real-life murder of Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles in 1976), David Mapstone, sheriff's historian, is given three weeks to solve the case. Although three men, all now dead, were convicted of Page's murder?Mark Reid, who planted the bomb; Dick Kemperton, who set it off; and Darren Howard, who paid for the hit but maintained his innocence?there was always supposition about involvement of the Mafia or Freeman Burke, the most powerful man in Phoenix. Now, Sheriff Mike Peralta, Mapstone's boss, has begun receiving angry messages about the case, and persons connected to it are being murdered, first among them Reid's son. Mapstone is hampered by records still under seal but is helped by his hacker wife, Lindsey, and PhD candidate Malik Jones as he pursues the case more as cop than historian. Talton celebrates investigative reporting and deplores the real-estate development that has damaged Phoenix as he delves into the dirty past and politics of the city. The ninth entry in a justly praised series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)