Not a book I would normally read. Heavy on environmental issues.

The mystery and unanswered questions held my attention. With several sub-plots and personal issues that were resolved in addition to the main mystery.
I had trouble jumping back and forth between times periods, but she did make it clear when she did.

The woman detective had foul language, perhaps justified ?? by the information she was trying to reach from the characters who would react to those words.

A change of pace from my normal reads. Will wait for quite awhile before I read another, maybe.

( )

Lena Jones, PI, helps out her business partner Jimmy when Jimmy's brother, Ted, is arrested for the murder of a public relations man, Donahue, working for a uranium mining company with a mine soon to open nearby. Lena and Jimmy think Ted is innocent so Lena starts interviewing people around town while Jimmy uses his expert computer skills to find information. Lena finds people in favor of the new mine and others who are against it because of all the cancer deaths from similar mining. It looks like a number of people may have wanted to murder Donahue.

This was a solid mystery woven into the issue of uranium mining/bomb testing and the after effects caused by the radiation and a secondary issue of domestic abuse. Lena Jones is feisty and likable. There were quite a few characters to keep track of and was mostly clear but occasionally confusing. Overall, I liked it and would read more. ( )

Quite some depressing story lines, and yet they were really, really well written for the most part.

It all starts when Lena's partner Jimmy disappears and only leaves a perfunctory message for Lena. That's not the best thing to do when it comes to Lena Jones, PI, and she eventually catches up with him and the family drama he's embroiled in.

Speaking of drama, I could have sworn that in the previous Lena Jones mystery that Jimmy and Lena were going towards each other romantically. But, perhaps I misread something. In this one they're friends and have an almost brother/almost sister relationship going.

A lot of the new characters were interesting in this book. I especially liked how the characters Nancy Donahue and Mia Tosches were written (even if I didn't always love the characters themselves when I wasn't supposed to). Although I did have a bit of a problem since some of Mia's subplot was left hanging at the end of the book. But, then, Webb tends to do that with at least one smaller subplot per book.

Overall it was an insanely well written/plotted novel that was intense and also chock full of interesting and sometimes depressing information about the Southwest. Mines and other things. I always learn a lot from Webb's books, and usually it's presented in a very fluid way. A definite four star novel. ( )

First Line: From his vantage point with the horses on a small hillock, Gabe Boone watched the cameras track the actor across the simmering desert floor toward the skin-draped yurt.

Jimmy Sisiwan-- Lena Jones' partner in Desert Investigations-- is her bedrock. Not only does she rely on his talent and expertise at work, she considers him family. Having been shot in the head and left for dead by her mother and then raised in a series of foster homes, Lena doesn't give her trust or love to anyone easily. So when Jimmy is arrested and jailed in the remote northern Arizona town of Walapai Flats, Lena closes down the Scottsdale business and heads north.

When she gets there, she finds a town divided over the issue of plans for a new uranium mine. Some welcome the desperately needed new jobs. Others find two reasons to be worried: (1) The owner of the new mine previously owned another uranium mine on Navajo land that was so mismanaged, it had to be closed down due to polluted water and soaring rates of cancer. (2) The new mine is ten miles from the Grand Canyon, and all water run-off would drain directly into it. This is one issue that has already turned deadly-- and shows no sign of stopping.

Characters and story are everything in Desert Wind. As part of her investigation, Lena becomes acquainted with Jimmy's adoptive father, a rancher who lives outside town, and many other Walapai Flats inhabitants. The longtime residents are tough nuts to crack, and Lena soon learns why. Through chapters tucked in between the ones with present-day action, we learn that Walapai Flats is still suffering from a sixty-year-old injustice: the United States' testing of nuclear bombs on its own citizens. For decades, these people have had family members die while they're lied to by strangers who smile and carry credentials.

(The United States conducted atmospheric and underground testing of nuclear bombs in Nevada during the 1950s. Low population density, mile upon mile of flat, government-owned land, and an easterly wind blowing away from the populous west coast were factors that decided in the Nevada site's favor.)

Unfortunately, it was no favor for any living thing caught in the path of those easterly winds, and Betty Webb once again proves how brilliantly she can break our hearts and raise our ire against blatant injustice while she spins a tale of mystery. Whenever someone asks me about books that depict the "real Arizona," I start talking Betty Webb and Lena Jones. Yes, these books deal with human rights issues, but the author never once forgets the mystery or the people who populate it. The characters, the land, the human rights topics-- Webb serves up the whole enchilada for a true reading hunger. ( )