Book description
While running surveillance in an industrial section of Scottsdale, P.
I. Lena Jones discovers the body of a woman connected to Second Zion, an
infamous polygamy cult based in northern Arizona. With the help of a
former polygamist “sister wife,” Lena soon discovers a shocking secret:
in a society where one man can have ten wives, nine men will have none.
Second Zion makes certain these possible rivals don't stick around by
turning these young teens into Arizona's “lost boys.” While searching
for the dead woman's lost son, Lena is surprised by a visit from
Madeline, the beloved foster mother from whom she'd been forcibly parted
at the age of nine. Madeline's presence renews Lena's memories of her
own damaged childhood and brings new clues to the identity of her
biological parents, who seemingly abandoned her when she was four years
old. But their joyful reunion is interrupted when Lena learns that her
close friend, television star Angel Grey, is being stalked by an
increasingly violent mental patient. When Lena flies to Angel's aid, she
finds that danger has followed her to Hollywood. Arizona polygamy and
its discarded sons, the deceptively insulated world of Beverly Hills,
and Lena's lost past converge in a case fraught with danger. When
Scottsdale PI Lena Jones (Desert Cut ) helps her friend who rescues
runaways from an ultraorthadox Mormon polygamous cult, she finds that
the horrors of such an extremist viewpoint are all too real. Her life on
the line, Lena tries to bring to justice the head of Second Zion, who
endorses spousal abuse, rape, and the forced expulsion of teenage boys
who might be rivals for the group's available women. VERDICT Readers
will need a strong stomach as Webb lays out the details of polygamy and
cult life in this fast-paced sixth series entry that will appeal to
readers who enjoy gritty Southwestern mysteries. No one writes quite
like she does. Betty Webb is the author of the acclaimed Lena Jones
mystery series, which includes “Desert Cut” and “Desert Wives.” A former
Californian who once lived on a boat, like the zookeeper protagonist of
“The Anteater of Death,” Betty now lives in landlocked Arizona, where
she volunteers at the Phoenix Zoo. She also teaches Creative Writing at
Phoenix College and is a member of the National Association of Press
Women, Mystery Writers of America, and the Authors Guild.
