Desert Rage

August 4, 2014
In Webb’s tough, moving eighth Lena Jones mystery (after 2012’s Desert Wind), 14-year-old Ali Cameron and her boyfriend, Kyle Gibbs, confess to the murders of Ali’s parents and her 10-year-old brother, who were all beaten to death by a baseball bat in their Scottsdale, Ariz., home. When Rep. Juliana Thorsson asks PI Lena to look into Ali and Kyle’s claim, Juliana reveals a secret to the cheeky, good-hearted Lena—Ali is the ambitious politician’s biological daughter. The unhappy lives of Ali and Kyle and several other people Lena encounters during her investigation remind her of her own bad experiences growing up. Determined to find the real killer and help these two kids, Lena persists in scrutinizing the many possible suspects, despite hostility and physical threats. Several red herrings arise along the road to a surprising and satisfying ending.

September 15, 2014
On a quiet cul-de-sac in Scottsdale, Arizona, three members of the Cameron familya doctor, his wife, and their 10-year-old sonare brutally murdered, evidently by an enraged assailant. When Alison Cameron and her boyfriend, Kyle Gibbs, both 14, each confess to the killings, the heat is off the Scottsdale PD. But Congresswoman Juliana Thorsson, politician-on-the-rise, hires PI Lena Jones to look into the case. Turns out there are lots of secrets, starting with Thorsson being Alison's biological mother through an egg donation and IVF. With the help of her Desert Investigations partner and computer whiz Jimmy Sisiwan, Lena learns that both Dr. and Mrs. Cameron had secrets, too, with his providing potential motives for the crimes. Although hired to look out for Alison's interest, Lena finds her concern extending to Kyle, with whom she shares the bond of growing up as a foster child, which still causes her nightmares. The Lena Jones series is notable for its persistent protagonist and vivid southwestern setting; this eighth entry, centered on a gruesome crime, also is particularly sensitive to the issues of foster children and what really makes a mother.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)