Desert Wives (Lena Jones Series) - Hardcover

Webb, Betty

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1590580303 ISBN 13: 9781590580301

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press, 2003

Synopsis

Now in its second edition, Betty Webb's Desert Wives is a startling, real look into the polygamous communities of Northern Arizona. When private detective Lena Jones helps thirteen-year-old Rebecca escape from Purity, a polygamy compound hidden in a desolate area straddling the Utah/Arizona border, she uncovers more than she bargained for. Rebecca's mother has now been arrested for the murder of Prophet Solomon Royal, Rebecca's intended husband. So Lena enters Purity masquerading as a polygamist wife to uncover the real murderer. What secrets are the Circle of Elders so desperate to protect?

Lena thinks she's put her own past behind her, but the sins of Purity's mothers and fathers force her to reexamine the scant memories of her early childhood. At the age of four she was found lying unconscious by the side of an Arizona highway, a bullet in her head. Raised in a series of foster homes, Lena does not remember her real name or the names of her parents. Are Lena's past and this new case somehow connected?

About this title

About the Author:

As a journalist, Betty Webb interviewed U.S. presidents, astronauts, and Nobel Prize winners, as well as the homeless, dying, and polygamy runaways. The dark Lena Jones mysteries are based on stories she covered as a reporter. Betty's humorous Gunn Zoo series debuted with the critically acclaimed The Anteater of Death, followed by The Koala of Death. A book reviewer at Mystery Scene Magazine, Betty is a member of National Federation of Press Women, Mystery Writers of America, and the National Organization of Zoo Keepers. www.bettywebb-zoomystery.com

From Publishers Weekly:

Dark humor and thrilling action inform Webb's second Lena Jones mystery (after 2001's Desert Noir), a searing expos‚ of the abuses of contemporary polygamy. The private detective is helping a client, 13-year-old Rebecca Corbett, to flee Purity, a polygamist compound on the Utah-Arizona border, when they stumble on the shotgunned body of Prophet Solomon Royal, the 68-year-old leader of the Church of the Prophet Fundamental-and Rebecca's fiance. Rebecca's mother, Esther, welcomes the girl with open arms, but when Esther's charged with the prophet's murder, Lena takes on the seemingly hopeless task of finding the real killer. Posing as a polygamist wife, Lena infiltrates Purity, where she unearths a closely guarded secret kept by the cult's Council of Elders. Meanwhile, the savvy investigator, who as a four-year-old child was shot by her mother and left for dead, learns more about her past. Rescued and raised by an Indian woman, Lena has grown into a scarred adult. Love and easy social contacts elude her. Lena can count on a few allies, including her Pima Indian partner, Jimmy Sisiwan, but she remains a loner, dependent on her own abilities-and the .38 strapped to her leg. The beauty of the Southwestern backdrop belies the harshness of life, the corrupt officials, brutal men and frightened women depicted in this arresting novel brimming with moral outrage.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1590580303
• ISBN 13: 9781590580301
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 300