Jon Talton
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"Phoenix, 1933: A young city with big dreams and dark corners Great War veteran and rising star Gene Hammons lost his job as a homicide detective when he tried to prove that a woman was wrongly convicted of murder to protect a well-connected man. Now a private investigator, Hammons makes his living looking for missing persons-a plentiful caseload during the Great Depression, when people seem to disappear all the time. But his routine is disrupted...
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"Forty years ago, a Phoenix reporter was killed by a car bomb in one of America's most notorious crimes. Three men went to prison but was the assassination ever really solved? Did the kingpin who ordered the hit get away with it? It's a case custom-made for David Mapstone, the historian-turned-sheriff's deputy. But the past never rests easy in Arizona and when Mapstone's boss, Sheriff Mike Peralta, promises to reopen the investigation, new murders...
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A handsome young New York professor comes to Phoenix to research his new book. But when he's brutally murdered, police connect him to one of the world's most deadly drug cartels. This shouldn't be a case for historian-turned-deputy David Mapstone-except the victim has been dating David's sister-in-law Robin and now she's a target, too. David's wife Lindsey is in Washington with an elite anti-cyber terror unit and she makes one demand of him: protect...
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"In the quiet of my forgotten office in the old country courthouse, behind the plastic doorplate that reads 'Deputy David Mapstone, Sheriff's Office Historian', I fiddled with the tribal fashion of cops. The tan uniform blouse with epaulets and pocket flaps, the opening above the pocket made for a cheap Cross pen, and the gold-plated 'MCSO' letters running parallel on each side of the collars. An off-white felt Stetson sat on my desk. We might be...
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PW Pick 2013
"Australian author Greenwood, having made a name for herself with the lighthearted Phryne Fisher series, succeeds brilliantly with this gripping thriller set in ancient Egypt." -Publishers Weekly STARRED review
Eighteenth Dynasty Egypt is peaceful and prosperous under the dual rule of the Pharaohs Amenhotep III and IV, until the younger Pharaoh begins to dream new and terrifying dreams.
Ptah-hotep, a young peasant boy studying to be...
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"Lawyer Cal is an appealing knight in rusty armor, seeking justice for the most vulnerable...Easley exquisitely captures Portland's flavor, and his portrayal of street life is spot-on. Readers of John Hart and Kate Wilhelm will delight in trying a new author." -Library Journal
In his first case in private practice, Oregon lawyer Cal Claxton came to the aid of a tagger calling himself Picasso, a Banksy-like figure in Portland. Dividing his time between...
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2018 Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award nominee
"With its strong sense of place, depiction of racial tension that still lingers in the new South, and appealing sleuths, de Castrique's well-plotted mystery is a winner." -Library Journal
When Asheville, NC, private eyes Sam Blackman and Nakayla Robertson are asked by an eighty-year-old client to investigate the suspicious death of her brother, they warn her there is little chance of success. Paul...
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He's a man we know only as "the columnist." He writes for a newspaper in Seattle, isn't afraid to stir up trouble, and keeps his life-including his multiple lovers and his past-in safe compartments. But it's all about to be violently upended when he goes out on what seems like the most mundane of assignments, looking into a staid company that "never makes news."
The moment one of his sources takes a dive off a downtown skyscraper, the columnist is...
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Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder
"Golden age fans will be enthralled." -Publishers Weekly STARRED review
'Adrian Gray was born in May 1862 and met his death through violence, at the hands of one of his own children, at Christmas, 1931.'
Thus begins a classic crime novel published in 1933 that has been too long neglected-until now. It is a riveting portrait of the psychology of a murderer.
Each December, Adrian Gray invites...
10) Cactus Heart
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In this "prequel" to the popular David Mapstone mysteries, author Jon Talton takes us back to 1999, when everything dot-com was making money, the Y2K bug was the greatest danger facing the world, and the good times seemed as if they would never end.
It was a time before David and Lindsey were together, before Mike Peralta was sheriff, and before David had rid himself of the sexy and mysterious Gretchen.
In Phoenix, it's the sweet season and Christmas...
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Though the new metropolis is one of America's largest, many are unaware of Phoenix's rich and compelling history. Built on land once occupied by the most advanced pre-Columbian irrigation society, Phoenix overcame its hostile desert surroundings to become a thriving agricultural center. After World War II, its population exploded with the mid-century mass migration to the Sun Belt. In times of rapid expansion or decline, Phoenicians proved themselves...
12) Concrete Desert
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"Talton's summer mystery, a first novel, shows how fertile the desert can be as a mystery setting... A stunning debut." -Booklist STARRED review
Having recently lost his job as a history professor, David Mapstone returns to his boyhood home of Phoenix, Arizona, to find the city dramatically changed. It's now a haven for wealthy retirees and a seasonal retreat for West Coast "sophisticates," but pockets of his earlier life-some welcome, some not-remain....
13) Dry Heat
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"Ramsay skillfully blends wry humor, witty dialogue, and engaging characters with a dark plot that tackles some of society's most unsolvable and tragic faults."-Kings River Life Magazine
Ethyl Smut, everyone agreed, deserved to die. But even a life wasted deserves justice. When a second body is unearthed in Ethyl's shallow grave and the nightmarish George LeBrun finds his way to Ike's desk, things get messy fast.
Then there is Ethyl's missing daughter,...
14) Arizona Dreams
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When a former student turns up in David Mapstone's office, she seems to have the perfect case for this history-professor-turned-deputy: a letter left by her deceased father, confessing to a forty-year-old murder and providing directions to the body. But things are never what they seem in Phoenix, a fast-buck city of newcomers seeking fresh starts from sometimes dark pasts.
Just ask David's wife, Deputy Lindsey Faith Mapstone. One morning the start...
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A sadistic killer is terrorizing Phoenix, and he's got Gene Hammons' number…
It's 1936, and private investigator Gene Hammons has more work than he can handle. A crime syndicate, J. Edgar Hoover, a wealthy family from back East, and a wily stalker all want something from him. His capable-but-drug-addicted brother, still a homicide detective, is as much a hindrance as a help. Luckily, Hammons finds a professional ally in Pamela Bradbury, a fellow...