Desert Cut (Lena Jones Mysteries (Paperback)) [Paperback]

Betty Webb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2008 | Series: Lena Jones Mysteries (Paperback)

While searching for a location for a new documentary, Lena Jones and director Warren Quinn stumble across the body of a mutilated young girl. Lena is suddenly reminded of her own rough childhood. Her investigation into the girl's death leads her into the small town of Los Perdidos, an Edenic town still alive with the memory of Geronimo's war. Here the hard life on the Arizona/Mexico border contrasts with Hollywood's slick production meetings, and the revival of an ancient practice is tempered by a growing underground railroad fighting to save its young victims.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Scouting locations with her film director boyfriend on a sparkling mountain morning, Arizona cop-turned-PI Lena Jones stumbles across a nightmare: the freshly dumped corpse of a little girl. Instantly it's personal, for, as fans of Webb's previous four Jones mysteries know, her feisty sleuth suffered a horrific childhood in foster care. Not getting involved simply isn't an option for Lena, especially once she learns that the dead girl suffered gruesome sexual mutilation—and that another child of around the same age, seven, has already gone missing from the small town of Los Perdidos. Then two more girls vanish. As in Webb's earlier adventures—particularly Desert Wives (2003), with its critically praised exposé of contemporary polygamy—the longtime journalist manages to fuel her plot from the starkest of news stories without compromising the fast-paced action. Though some may want to skim the more graphic passages, the intrepid will be rewarded with a propulsive, thought-provoking read. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"Webb's dark tale of a clash of cultures is emotionally draining and intellectually challenging."--Kirkus Reviews

 "It is a compelling story that will appeal to a broad range of mystery readers—and may bring increased attention to a too-little-known series."  --Booklist starred review

"the longtime journalist manages to fuel her plot from the starkest of news stories without compromising the fast-paced action...a propulsive, thought-provoking read." Publisher's Weekly

"this Southwestern series has a depth that enhances the reader's pleasure"  -Library Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 277 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press (April 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590585836
• ISBN-13: 978-1590585832
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #820,589 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Former journalist Betty Webb is a prize-winning mystery novelist whose books are based on true crimes, including human rights abuses. Publishers Weekly called her novels "mysteries with a social conscience." She lives in Arizona, where her Lena Jones mysteries are set.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Desert's Terrible Truths, April 2, 2008

By 

Story Circle Book Reviews - See all my reviews

This review is from: Desert Cut (Lena Jones Mysteries (Hardcover)) (Hardcover)

"I'm not a nice girl," Lena Jones declares on the first page of the first book (Desert Wives) in this outstanding mystery series by Betty Webb, built around controversial darkside themes. By the time Desert Cut, Lena's fifth dilemma comes along, she still isn't. And it's a good thing.

Lena is a been-there woman. She needs all the experience she has as an ex-cop and now Scottsdale PI. One perfect morning she and her colleague/companion Warren Quinn are enjoying a pleasant ride across the Arizona desert when they make a stunning and horrifying discovery--the body of a girl-child. Is she the victim of an illegal border crossing gone wrong, or more, or worse?

Once again former investigative reporter Betty Webb shows her skills in spinning a fascinating story around a tough topic.

Webb is a fine place-writer. Her descriptions of the desert landscape and the people shaped by it alone recommend the book. But the culture is changing. There are more than the relationships between the Native American, the Anglos and the Hispanics. There is yet another wave of newcomers as burgeoning job opportunities attract workers from halfway around the world.

Herein lays the conflict. For the lovely child, the dead girl, was not abandoned after an accidental death, but is the victim of a brutal and unspeakable crime. So unspeakable that local sheriff refuses to give Lena the cause of death--for a time. Lena is persistent not only in gaining that knowledge but in pursuing the truth until all is understood. In the process, Lena learns more about herself and discovers more about her own tangled background.

The book is not all heavy going. There are flashes of the glitzy world of Beverly Hills when Lena flies over to her consulting job on a television Western, and as we learn of Warren's day job as an Oscar-winning Hollywood director. Plenty of humor sparks out as well.

Still, Webb reveals, as is sometimes best done in fiction, some eye-opening facts about this nameless crime. And she names it--female genital mutilation or amputation. Terrifying yes, but something every person needs to know of and understand in our changing culture.

Webb ends the book with two appendices (one with explicit language) and a bibliography on the subject. She's serious about this.

I recommend this book, both for the quality of the story and for the essential and painful information, but the reader should not pick it up unaware.

by Patricia Nordyke Pando
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Grim Tale, April 1, 2008

By 

Ted Feit (Long Beach, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Desert Cut (Lena Jones Mysteries (Hardcover)) (Hardcover)

Scottsdale PI Lena Jones, in four previous appearances, has tackled some different and interesting and controversial topics, ranging from polygamy, the homeless and a former WWII German POW camp. In this latest novel, she uncovers horrific subject one knows about in Africa and the Middle East, but hardly comes to mind in the United States.

While horseback riding with her boyfriend scouting a film location in the Arizona desert, Lena finds the body of a seven-year-old girl. It turns out there are other young girls either missing or dead from a nearby town. Many of the inhabitants work for a chemical factory there, and are African or Middle Eastern immigrants. Lena can't get the thought of the little girl she found in a shallow grave from her mind, and starts her own investigation. Eventually, she ties together a common thread for all the dead and missing young girls, and a horrific one it is.

As in the previous books in the series, the plot is meticulously researched, with an outstanding bibliography, carefully written and documented, and the writing and story substantial. While constructed as a mystery, the novel is truly more important than the genre.

Highly recommended.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Desert Cut an unforgettable read, February 16, 2008

By 

Ross A. Hugovidal (Portland, ME USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Desert Cut (Lena Jones Mysteries (Hardcover)) (Hardcover)

Author Julia Spencer-Fleming calls DESERT CUT harrowing and thought-provoking...spiked with social outrage...a book that will remain with you a long time. Author David Morrell says people will talk about if for a long time to come. I could not agree more. This book does what the best crime fiction can do; it entertains, enlightens and educates. The subject matter is as current as the immigration issues. And all who read it will have cause to reflect upon what it means to be an American in this day and age. This book will surely attract awards attention! Betty Webb's blend of fine writing and investigative journalism just gets better with each book. And DESERT CUT is a book I will remember well 20 years from now.