Arizona Dreams: A David Mapstone Mystery (David Mapstone Mysteries) (Paperback)

~ Jon Talton (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Retired professor David Mapstone once again brings a historian's touch to his job as Phoenix deputy sheriff in Talton's smartly plotted fourth adventure (after 2004's Dry Heat). Nothing appears to link the ice-pick murder of lawyer Alan Cordesman in David's neighborhood with a body in the desert that turns out to be that of landowner Harry Bell. Months later, David starts connecting the dots when Harry's brother, Louis, also turns up with an ice pick through his skull, and David's supposed former student, who originally directed him to the location of the body in the desert, proves to be Dana Earley, wife of Tom Earley, Maricopa county supervisor and chief critic of the sheriff's department, run by David's prickly boss, Mike Peralta. David also links the Earleys to Arizona Dreams, a massive new development with one major problem: it has no water supply, a requisite in Arizona. But the Bell land does. While much of this is familiar territory, Talton crisply evokes Phoenix's New West ambience and keeps readers guessing with unexpected plot twists. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

It's a tough few days for Phoenix deputy David Mapstone. He's first on the scene when his neighbor is found with an ice pick in his brain. As he's leaving the scene with his wife--also a deputy but specializing in computer forensics--her stepsister steps out of the crowd to introduce herself. This would be the stepsister his wife never mentioned. In short order, a former student--Mapstone was a history professor after his first stint in law enforcement--asks him to investigate a 40-year-old murder committed by her late father, who buried the victim in the Phoenix desert. A trip to the site reveals a body, but a fresh one. When more bodies start turning up in the desert, Mapstone wonders if they all may be connected to a new upscale development known as Arizona Dreams. The fourth entry in the Mapstone series is as engaging as its predecessors. Talton weaves a couple of primary plot threads with parallel personal narratives, and the resulting synergy produces a more suspenseful tale and a satisfyingly multidimensional protagonist. Make this your Arizona series of choice. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press (May 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590583671
• ISBN-13: 978-1590583678
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #728,122 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Desert Noir, September 4, 2006

By	David W. Foster (phoenix, arizona USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Arizona Dreams (Hardcover)

Like many of the finest examples of noir, Talton's novel has a firm sense of locale: in this case, Phoenix, Ariziona. Talton, like his narrator, grew up in Phoenix, and like his narrator, he returned from elsewhere to reconnect with his roots. One of the characters in Arizona Dreams (someone who did not grow up in Phoenix) repeats the often-heard cliche that Phoenix has no stories to tell (this in implicit contrast to all of the lore--so much of it Hollywood and tourist industry bunk--that Arizona presumably has to tell). But Talton and his narrator know better, and some of the most important stories to tell about Phoenix (and other sunbelt cities) concern the crime, corruption, and multifaceted chicanery that are integral parts in the engine driving the phenomenal growth of the area in the past fifty years. The Chamber of Commerce and its allies (which include the real estate and construction industries at the very least) never tell the stories relating to the human and environmental cost of such growth, but this is the story Talton's excellent novels have to tell. Working with the novelistic device of a cold-case investigator and murder as the the most dramatic face of that human cost, Talton, with a fine sense of narrative irony, tells the stories so many of the Sun Belt residents do not want to hear in their pretense that there are no stories to tell. One added note of interest: Talton is a business editorial writer for the Arizona Republic, and one of the great delights of his four novels lies in perceiving the links between his newspaper columns and his detective novels.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I was NOT disappointed!!, August 31, 2006

By	H. J. Redpath Jr. "Skip" (Phoenix) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Arizona Dreams (Hardcover)

This is Jon Talton's fourth book of the David Mapstone Mystery collection that I now have.

I was NOT disappointed with this newly released mystery with the "History Shamus", Deputy David Mapstone.

A very interesting, enjoyable read with twists and turns til the final surprise ending.

Concrete Desert, Camelback Falls, Dry Heat, and now Arizona Dreams. All were great reads.

I cannot wait for the next in this series.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Mapstone yet!, July 29, 2007

By	scifiguy57 "scifiguy57" (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

"Even-numbered Mapstones don't suck" seems to be the pattern developing with Jon Talton's series. I found the first Mapstone disappointing, the second one quite an improvement, and the third one so-so. But now Talton has hit his stride and produced a thriller that really thrills, and a plot that holds together right up to the climax, tying together the loose ends without those "And now, Mr. Bond, before I kill you, I will explain my whole master plan" set-pieces that spoiled some of the previous novels.

Talton is also getting better at breathing life into his characters. Lindsay in particular becomes much more interesting, with revelations about her family and her past that David Mapstone had no inkling of. Sheriff Peralta puts in an appearance, but instead of being the ever-present father figure, he becomes less sympathetic and an impediment to Mapstone's investigation - which makes for a more interesting story.

What I really like is that Talton delves more deeply into Phoenix's real-estate-driven and Enron-like economy which is based on lies and denial - the idea that there will always be an infinite supply of cheap real estate and free water, and an endless stream of unskilled workers coming here to happily work minimum-wage McJobs to keep the whole house of cards going. Thanks to the extreme fringe-right politicians who keep getting elected here (the Tom Earley character strikes me as a spot-on depiction of notorious bloviator JD Hayworth), "planning" is a dirty word synonymous with socialism and totalitarianism. And so Phoenix stumbles into the future with no clue how to handle its explosive growth, no political will to make hard but necessary decisions. It's a perfect breeding ground for criminals and scam artists like the ones portrayed in this book.

I haven't read the fifth Mapstone yet, but I hope Talton hasn't rested on his laurels but is continuing to do what this novel does: in the entertaining guise of a detective thriller, hold up a mirror to contemporary Phoenix.