Scottsdale, Ariz., author Betty Webb hits her stride in her fourth Lena Jones mystery, “Desert Run.” As a professional newspaper journalist, Webb has honed her skill as a writer and has used her creativity and imagination to base this story on an isolated incident in Arizona history called the Great Escape. This multilayered story moves back and forth in time and is peopled with complicated and riveting characters.
Lena Jones is a driven private investigator with a tortured past. A former Scottsdale police detective, Lena left the force and established her own business, Desert Investigations. Her partner, Jimmy Sisiwan, is a Pima Indian with formidable computer skills. Since both Jimmy and Lena were orphans, they have a lot in common, but as foster children, their experiences couldn’t have been more different. Their partnership has flourished and the business is doing well, especially since Lena signed on with a film company shooting on location in nearby Papago Park.
Oscar-winning director Warren Quinn is shooting a documentary titled “Escape Across the Desert,” about the Dec. 24, 1944, escape of 28 World War II German POWs from Camp Papago. While in real life their freedom was short-lived and relatively benign, “Desert Run’s” escapade is far more disruptive and deadly. After a theft of equipment from the set, Quinn hires Lena to provide security for his Living History Production Co., setting off a string of events that forever change many lives.
Das Kapitan Ernst is the focus of Quinn’s film. A former U Boat captain, the 91-year-old man has lost both his legs in a boating accident and is confined to a wheelchair. Even though Ernst should be a helpless, benign elder, he still exudes the warped attitudes of the Third Reich with a superior outlook. Though not very well-liked, Ernst is one of the few survivors left to tell the tale of the escape and therefore has a large part in the movie. When he fails to show up for shooting one morning, Lena is sent to investigate. What she finds begins a quest that seems to create as many homicides as it attempts to solve.
Ernst has met a brutal end, one befitting the way he lived, according to some. But as Lena puts it, “Even a man like Das Kapitan deserved justice.” Lena is alarmed when the police arrest Rada Tesema, Ernst’s Ethiopian caregiver, since she believes he is incapable of such violence. As Lena attempts to clear Rada, she is drawn into a drama that has its roots in events that are 60 years old.
For readers unfamiliar with Lena, a little back story is appropriate. At age 4 she was found on a Phoenix street with a bullet in her head and no memory. Lena was then placed into a series of nightmare situations at more than 10 foster homes. She survived to win a scholarship and graduate from college. She went on to Scottsdale PD, and now she is a PI.
Webb has created a fascinating character in Lena Jones. She is at once hard as nails but also vulnerable, especially when it comes to trusting other people. At the beginning of “Desert Run,” Lena is experiencing several losses, which are shaking her world. Jimmy is leaving the business because he is marrying and needs to make more money and her old boss, Capt. Kryzinski, is moving back to Brooklyn, ironically becoming a private investigator. This move stuns Lena after suffering years of grief from him about leaving the department.
Webb weaves many subplots into the story, using Lena’s job as a way to insert the different storylines and complications to the investigation. The heavily layered story is deftly assembled, and Webb masterfully imbues each part with intrigue and suspense.
This thought-provoking novel is a gem. It is a perfect chance to make the acquaintance of an author poised on the national consciousness of mystery fans.
Leslie Doran is a freelance writer in Durango.
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Desert Run
By Betty Webb
Poisoned Pen Press, 358 pages, $24.95
