Customer Reviews

Camelback Falls: A David Mapstone Mystery

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This is a good book.

Before going further, it is worth noting that Phoenix and Arizona have some of the highest crime rates in the nation. That's not what the Chamber of Commerce, tourism bureau and local newspaper will admit, but it's true. Do as I did, look at the FBI Uniform Crime Reports. I did after moving here in 1972, and often since then; the figures are consistent, this is one of the most crime plagued areas in the nation.

Talton writes a compelling story about crime in the Phoenix area, with a fictional sheriff as his hero. The real sheriff is a clown, courting constant publicity by forming chain gangs for prisoners, serving rotten food (he's proud of his green bologna), dressing inmates in pink underwear, narrowly evading imaginary plots on his life, housing inmates in tents in 120-degree weather, and costing the county millions of dollars in lawsuits filed in response to brutality by his deputies.

The sheriff's predecessors include a man who'd been married 10 or so times, and another who was formerly a lawnmower repairman. They weren't as "tough" as the current sheriff.

Although his central plot is fictional, Talton larded it with real incidents in the Phoenix area. When he cites to Mesa officers using their shift breaks to have sex with each other, such sex games really happened. When he writes about the local newspaper by saying one of it's stories "got things about half right" - - - it flatters his current bosses, since he can't afford to lose his day job yet.

Yet, based on my personal experience as a reporter covering trials and in the governor's office, Talton paints a devastatingly accurate picture of police corruption, indifference, arrogance and bullying. Time and again, his examples are based on actual events. For example, in my neighborhood police teamed up with local gang members who are willing to fight the Los Angeles-based Crips and Bloods.

Earlier, I mentioned high crime rates. It would probably be the highest rate in the nation except for one factor - - - the police refuse to take reports on crimes such as burglary and attempted auto theft. I've been burglarized half-a-dozen times, the recent police response is always, "Don't call us, your insurance company handles those complaints."

How bad is crime? Well, in the early 1980s, Sen. Barry Goldwater moved his office out of downtown Phoenix because the high crime rate made many people too afraid to visit it. Today, neither of Arizona's Senators, John McCain and Jon Kyl, have downtown Phoenix offices.

In police terms, and I learned this from the police many years ago, many local cops are "cash registers." It means an emphasis on writing tickets to produce revenue, not on preventing or solving crimes. It's why almost every new subdivision in Arizona is surrounded by walls, a desperate attempt by residents to protect themselves. In response, city officials want to impose new ordinances to limit the size of walls that people may build to protect their homes and families.

Talton portrays this ambiance of Phoenix with rare skill and cheeky verve. Such candor is never reflected in the local papers, which believe in "press release" journalism rather than showing initiative. I know the neighborhoods he writes about, and his book offers a chillingly authentic view of the wide open nature of Phoenix.

Camelback Falls underlines the reason why three out of five people who move to the Phoenix area leave within a year; the combination of high crime, police indifference and corruption, plus 100 days when the daily temperature is more than 100 degrees is enough to drive any rational person away.

Keep in mind, Talton writes about middle class neighborhoods. In the barrios, whole families - - father, mother, three killed - - have been killed execution style, but the police never make an arrest. Why? Few people, if any, trust the police. As for the police, they don't care; promotions are made on the basis of revenue-producing tickets.

Talton writes about the real Phoenix, not the tourist version. It's an easy four-hour read, well worth your time before visiting or moving to Phoenix. Read it, Talton paints a chilling picture of how local officials are letting a once beautiful city become a Third World ghetto.

Read it. If enough people read it and respond, perhaps something will be done. We'd appreciate any help outraged readers may offer. Thanks.

I was disappointed by Talton's first novel, _Concrete Desert_, but I am pleased to see that this one is a big improvement. Somewhat implausibly, the narrator goes overnight from being the universally ridiculed historian of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department to its acting head. He quickly finds himself in the middle of a case of corruption, porn and murder, and doesn't know who he can trust. The action moves along briskly and the sense of paranoia increases as more and more attempts are made on the narrator's life. The descriptions of Phoenix, especially the contrast between the Chamber-of-commerce image and the sleazy underbelly, are spot on.

Talton still has trouble creating believable characters. Lindsey in particular seems more like a pin-up poster on some teenage boy's bedroom wall than a real human being. Also the ending was annoyingly formulaic, reminiscent of those James Bond movies where the bad guy has to explain everything before killing Bond.

On the whole however, this is an entertaining read if you have to spend a few hours sitting on a plane. Phoenix provides so much material for detective thrillers - greedy land speculators, hypocritical politicians, ultra-extremist gun nuts and survivalists, you name it - I hope Talton will continue to mine this vein.

When he was twenty-three, David Mapstone was a rookie working in the Maricopa County Sheriff's office while attending college at night. After four years on the force, he accepts a position of assistant professor at a midwestern college but when he fails to attain tenure he returns to Arizona. He accepts a job with the sheriff's office as a Historian, receiving a set fee for each cold case he solved.

Nobody could be happier than David is when his old partner Mike Peralta is elected sheriff of Maricopa County. However, minutes after Peralta is sworn in, someone shoots the new sheriff who is rushed to the hospital where he lays in a coma. David is selected as acting sheriff because he has no interest in the position permanently. His immediate concern is the murder of former sheriff Dick Nixon who many claim was dirty, and an escaped con probably gunning for David and Peralta. When evidence surfaces that officers, including Peralta, were on the take in the 1970's, David, trusting in the honesty of his friend, concludes that somebody is manipulating events. David investigates the situation, trying to flush the killer out but almost winds up another victim.

Jon Talton is a superb storyteller who is a fresh new voice in police procedurals. His hero is likable and realistic, a person not interested in petty politics or getting ahead professionally. He's more involved in the past than the present but in CAMELBACK FALLS he is forced to work on a current crime because of his friendship. Mr. Talton writes with a discerning eye and a subtle sense of irony that readers will appreciate.

Harriet Klausner

Talton has created a truly intelligent and different detective. Moody settings, smart plot twists, and a romatic interest worthy of the hero. This is the second book with Talton's character, Mapstone, and it's a truly accomplished follow-up to a great debut novel!

David Mapstone is made acting sheriff when his boss is shot. But, why? Who would shoot Sheriff Peralta? Peralta had been Mapstone's partner, and they remained close friends, so Mapstone resolves to find the shooter.

As with the other Mapstone mysteries, we meet some notorious Phoenix officials, and the solution to the attempt on Peralta lies in a crime that occurred many years earlier. In addition, we are treated to beautiful visuals of the city, "The western sky was putting on its nightly show---tonight narrow bands of clouds were inventing new colors, somewhere on the spectrum between purple and pink---as we crossed through the Saguaro-spiked arroyos and the hills of Dreamy Draw."

Talton is a fourth-generation Arizonan. His knowledge of Arizona history adds substance and interest. If I weren't already here, I would want to visit. There are five Mapstone mysteries: Concrete Desert, Camelback Falls, Dry Heat, Cactus Heart, Arizona Dreams. Read them all.

I read Talton's first book, Concrete Desert, and this book is a beautiful follow-up. Mike Peralta did a good job for Phoenix when he hired history-professor-turned-sheriff's-deputy to research old files in an effort to solve cases that have haunted this City for years. His name is David Mapstone and all of a sudden he's acting sheriff. Hmmm. As Talton says, "the mean streets of the New West have never been more sinister." This is a good read and would make a good series for television.

Talton's second published mystery continues the adventures of failed history professor and erstwhile sheriff's deputy David Mapstone as he climbs the professional ladder to greater responsibility and greater danger. The improbable juxtaposition of academic and law enforcement sensibilities gives Mapstone a somewhat unpredictable and self-deprecating personality (much like the author's) that keeps the narrative fresh and appealing. The story is more violent and racy than its predecessor ("Concrete Desert"), but it continues Talton's signature exploration of the 1950s and 60s history of the town destined to become the nation's fifth largest city. The plot moves along quickly to the inevitable but satisfying conclusion. Talton manages to deftly slip in many editorial comments about the rapid urbanization of Phoenix today, and he also conveys how the current version of the city still preserves some of its earlier close-knit, gossipy feel. Readers not familiar with urban Arizona may find the book's cultural and physical landscapes to be strangely exotic. Those who have visited or lived in the desert southwest will quickly recognize the real landmarks sprinkled through the fabric of the book. It's apparent that Talton is aiming for Tony Hillerman's audience. While he hasn't yet gotten to that level of notoriety, anyone who has enjoyed reading about Hillerman's detectives Joe Leaphorn and Jimmy Chee should immediately order one or both of Talton's books.

This author and his series are outstanding. Living in AZ I can picture all the places he refers to.

Three years after the events depicted in the "Concrete Desert" Deputy Sheriff David Mapstone is doing less teaching and more work for the Sheriff's Department in Phoenix, Arizona. Engaged to Deputy Lindsey Faith Adams, David Mapstone is finally finding his place in life and a little peace as he stands on a stage in the County Supervisor's Auditorium. He is there along with a number of dignitaries, family members and the rank and file of the Sheriff's Office to witness the swearing in of the new Sheriff, his old friend and training officer, Mike Peralta.

The joyful mood is shattered when suddenly Mike Peralta is gunned down by a sniper's bullet in front of everyone and Mapstone is covered in Peralta's blood. Critically wounded, Peralta survives the shooting by a thread and slides into a deep coma. While Mapstone is aware of some of the political factions in the department and the subsequent void in control by Peralt'as shooting, he is totally unprepared by the suggestion by those political forces that he run things as Sheriff until Peralta's fate is known one way or the other. Having received the message loud and clear that he can't say no, he agrees and begins to assist with the investigation into the shooting of Peralta as well as trying to lead a department that includes some actively working against him behind the scenes.

History was a major component of the first novel of the series and is an issue here as well as Mapstone uncovers clues that lead him back to a case from more than twenty years ago when Mapstone was a rookie and Peralta was his training officer. As more officers die who are linked to that same violent night, Mapstone and Lindsey must not only do everything they can to survive but to find a band of criminal rogue cops who thought their secrets were long buried.

As in the first novel, the fast read is gritty and at times intense with a noir style and feel. Violence is at most a page or two away throughout the work and usually appears in a brutal fashion. While not disturbingly graphic as compared to somebody like author Patricia Cornwell or others, death and its resulting aftermath in smell and appearance are described frequently in the book.

As befitting a sequel with heft, the David Mapstone characters and others are fleshed out a bit more in this novel. While events of the past are discussed and discussed again, it is done with a subtle finesse and style, which does not slow down the read at all. The authors' sense of style and pace remain true as does his ability to create an intense interesting mystery well worthy of the read and the series.


Book Facts

Camelback Falls (A David Mapstone Mystery)
By Jon Talton
Thomas Dunne Books
www.minotaurbooks.com
2003
ISBN # 0-312-30404-8
Hardback
212 Pages


Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
(a real person)

I bought this book because of the glowing reviews, but found it to be an average read, and only then because I am from Phoenix. If I were not from Phoenix, I would have found it boring.