Cactus Heart

(Paperback)

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In this "prequel" to the popular David Mapstone mysteries, author Jon Talton takes us back to 1999, when everything dot-com was making money, the Y2K bug was the greatest danger facing the world, and the good times seemed as if they would never end. It was a time before David and Lindsey were together, before Mike Peralta was sheriff, and before David had rid himself of the sexy and mysterious Gretchen. In Phoenix, it's the sweet season and Christmas and the new millennium are only weeks away. But history professor David Mapstone, just hired by the Sheriff's Office, still finds trouble, chasing a robber into an abandoned warehouse and discovering a gruesome crime from six decades ago. Mapstone begins an investigation into a Depression-era kidnapping that transfixed Arizona and the nation- the disappearance of a cattle baron's grandsons, their bodies never found. And although the kidnapper was caught and executed, Mapstone uncovers evidence that justice was far from done. But this is no history lesson. The cattle baron's heirs now run a Fortune 500 company and wield far more clout than a former-professor-turned-deputy. Then one of the heirs turns up dead....

Reviews

In an entertaining prequel, Talton tells how series hero David Mapstone got to be the way he is.

The History Shamus was born on the December day in 1999 which Prof. David Mapstone failed to get tenure at San Diego State. Through the agency of old friend Mike Peralta, Chief Deputy of Maricopa County (Ariz.), the hunky ex-history professor got a badge, a gun and, according to some, a sinecure: a case list of undemanding, go-through-the-motions ice-cold no-hopers. But Mapstone was about to get lucky 58 years after the twin four-year-old grandsons of cattle baron Hayden Yarnell were abducted. The ransom was paid and the kidnapper eventually caught, but the children were never found. Almost by accident, Mapstone is on the scene when the little bodies are discovered in an abandoned building. As a consequence, he begins a pro forma investigation that suddenly intensifies when it becomes clear that the man convicted and executed for the crime could not possibly have committed it -- and when it becomes equally clear that the rich and powerful Yarnell family is also secretive and dissembling.

The prose can go over the top now and then, but this fifth in the series (after Arizona Dreams, 2006, etc.) -- tightly plotted, smartly paced and enlivened by dollops of enthusiastic sex -- is purple-proof. Talton's best yet. --Kirkus Reviews

Author Bio

Author Jon Taltonas writing was developed over 20 years as a journalist, working for newspapers in San Diego, Denver, Dayton, Cincinnati, Charlotte, and Phoenix. Jonas columns have appeared in newspapers throughout North America. Before journalism, Jon worked as an ambulance medic in the inner city of Phoenix. He now lives in Seattle, WA. http-//www.jontalton.com