While scouting locations for a film documentary on Arizona’s Apache Wars, private investigator Lena Jones and Oscar-winning director Warren Quinn discover the mutilated body of a young girl.
     The gruesome manner of the child’s death evokes memories of Lena’s own rough childhood. Despite clashing with the local law, Lena investigate’s the child’s death and discovers a small town with a big secret.
     Los Perdidos is not the Eden it first appears. Founded by the descendants of pioneers who fought Geronimo, it now holds a significant population of documented and undocumented foreign-born residents who live and work at the local chemical plant. Lena senses a sinister force at work in the town -- but where?
     The still vivid memory of Geronimo’s war mixes with the modern immigration war, and the hard life on the Arizona/Mexico border contrasts with Hollywood’s slick production meetings, and the cruelty of an ancient practice is tempered by a growing underground railroad fighting to save its young victims.

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY reviews DESERT RUN

"At the start of Webb's multifaceted, fast-paced fourth Lena Jones mystery (after 2004's Desert Shadows), the scrappy workaholic PI is supervising security for filmmaker Warren Quinn, who's shooting a documentary about the escape of German POW's from a prison camp in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1944. When someone murders the leader of the escapees, arrogant, disagreeable Erik Ernst, now 91 and retired in Scottsdale, suspicion falls on the former U-boat commander's Ethiopian immigrant care-giver, Rada Tesema... Webb combines evocative descriptions of place with fine historical research in a plot packed with twists."

DESERT SHADOWS - Publishing Can Be Murder

"Loyalty, compassion and a sharp sense of humor help Arizona PI Lena Jones survive as she continues to struggle with her troubled past in Webb's third socially conscious, thought-provoking mystery (after 2003's Desert Wives). The glorious Southwest landscape once again provides the perfect setting for Webb's courageous heroine."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, June 21, 2004

DESERT WIVES - Polygamy Can Be Murder

"If Betty Webb had gone undercover and written DESERT WIVES as a piece of investigative journalism, she'd probably be up for a Pulitzer... The factual details - supported by research cited in an afterward - are eye-popping."
The New York Times

"Dark humor and thrilling action inform Webb's second Lena Jones mystery, a searing expose' of the abuses of contemporary polygamy... The beauty of the Southwestern backdrop belies the harshness of life, the corrupt officials, brutal men and frightened women depicted in this arresting novel briming with moral outrage..."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, January 2003

DESERT NOIR

"Highly accomplished debut of what promises to be an exciting new series... A fully realized picture of Arizona, from barrios to mountaintop mansions, with the rich backdrop of Indian legend and desert facing erosion by urban sprawl... A must read for any fan of the modern female PI novel."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, May 2001

DESPERATE JOURNEYS featuring DESERT DECEIT by Betty Webb

To escape and unwind, Scottsdale private eye Lena Jones joins a dude ranch cattle drive through Arizona's most rugged and remote area. But the brutal murder of a media magnate turns the 120-mile trip into a trail full of unforeseen danger.

Deser Cut, Desert Run, Desert Shadows, Desert Wives and Desert Noir are available at your local bookstore or may be ordered directly from the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press at 1-800-421-3976