Concrete desert
Author:
NoveList Series:
David Mapstone mysteries volume 1.
Series:
David Mapstone mysteries volume 1
Publisher:
Thomas Dunne Books, c 2001
Pub. Date:
2001
Edition:
1st ed
Language:
English
Description
In this intriguing first novel, Jon Talton plunges his protagonist, David Mapstone, into a Sunbelt metropolis where corruption, betrayal and murder are lurking just beyond the glow of tony resorts and dramatic desert sunsets.
Having recently lost his job as a history professor, Mapstone returns to his boyhood home of Phoenix, Arizona, but finds the Southwest city he knew dramatically changed. It's now a haven for wealthy retirees and a seasonal retreat for West Coast "sophisticates."
To Mapstone, who has a strong personal feeling for the area's history, it seems a foreign place. There remain, however, pockets of his earlier life, some welcome, some not. Mapstone eagerly accepts a temporary job from his old friend and Maricopa County Chief Deputy Mike Peralta: Look into still-open cases that have languished for years in the department's file cabinets and see if he can close any.
A less welcome voice from the past is the college sweetheart, who appears at his door one evening. True to his memory of her, she is there because she wants something. Never mind that she had abruptly abandoned him 20 years ago for a wealthier lover. Now her sister is missing. Will Mapstone look for her? Although Mapstone's search for the missing woman is quickly resolved when her body is discovered in the desert, he is stunned to find an echo of the past in the grisly discovery. The dead sister has been found in circumstances identical to a sensational 40-year-old unsolved murder he is researching for Peralta.
Mapstone's dogged investigation of both murders bridges the chasm of clashing cultures, meshing his own long-ago memories and the stories from some of the city's old inhabitants with the tangled doings of newcomers and their acolytes, young women eager to share the lifestyle of tainted wealth, drugs, and careless violence.
To read Concrete Desert is to become completely engrossed in a highly unusual mystery that is further enriched by the author's perspective on the way America is changing.
Having recently lost his job as a history professor, Mapstone returns to his boyhood home of Phoenix, Arizona, but finds the Southwest city he knew dramatically changed. It's now a haven for wealthy retirees and a seasonal retreat for West Coast "sophisticates."
To Mapstone, who has a strong personal feeling for the area's history, it seems a foreign place. There remain, however, pockets of his earlier life, some welcome, some not. Mapstone eagerly accepts a temporary job from his old friend and Maricopa County Chief Deputy Mike Peralta: Look into still-open cases that have languished for years in the department's file cabinets and see if he can close any.
A less welcome voice from the past is the college sweetheart, who appears at his door one evening. True to his memory of her, she is there because she wants something. Never mind that she had abruptly abandoned him 20 years ago for a wealthier lover. Now her sister is missing. Will Mapstone look for her? Although Mapstone's search for the missing woman is quickly resolved when her body is discovered in the desert, he is stunned to find an echo of the past in the grisly discovery. The dead sister has been found in circumstances identical to a sensational 40-year-old unsolved murder he is researching for Peralta.
Mapstone's dogged investigation of both murders bridges the chasm of clashing cultures, meshing his own long-ago memories and the stories from some of the city's old inhabitants with the tangled doings of newcomers and their acolytes, young women eager to share the lifestyle of tainted wealth, drugs, and careless violence.
To read Concrete Desert is to become completely engrossed in a highly unusual mystery that is further enriched by the author's perspective on the way America is changing.
More Details
ISBN:
9780312269531
Staff View
Grouping Information
Grouped Work ID | 7d29102e-d411-487b-1b85-9c2c3c629ee4 |
---|---|
Grouping Title | concrete desert |
Grouping Author | jon talton |
Grouping Category | book |
Grouping Language | English (eng) |
Last Grouping Update | 2023-09-18 15:23:12PM |
Last Indexed | 2023-09-29 05:00:13AM |
Solr Fields
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0
accelerated_reader_reading_level
0
author
Talton, Jon
author_display
Talton, Jon
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Ashland Vaughn Public Library
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Ashland Adult Detective
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Book
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Books
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7d29102e-d411-487b-1b85-9c2c3c629ee4
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9780312269531
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last_indexed
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literary_form
Fiction
literary_form_full
Fiction
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D TALTON
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Ashland Vaughn Public Library
owning_location_ashland
Ashland Vaughn Public Library
primary_isbn
9780312269531
publishDate
2001
publisher
Thomas Dunne Books, c 2001
recordtype
grouped_work
series
David Mapstone mysteries
series_with_volume
David Mapstone mysteries|1
subject_facet
Detective and mystery fiction
History teachers -- Fiction
Phoeniz (Ariz) -- Fiction
Unemployment -- Fiction
History teachers -- Fiction
Phoeniz (Ariz) -- Fiction
Unemployment -- Fiction
title_display
Concrete desert
title_full
Concrete desert / Jon Talton
title_short
Concrete desert
topic_facet
History teachers
Unemployment
Unemployment
Solr Details Tables
item_details
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record_details
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---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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