- Hardcover: 224 pages
- Publisher: St Martin's Press (20 Sep 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0312269536
- ISBN-13: 978-0312269531
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.6 x 2.1 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,629,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Concrete Desert
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
At loose ends, David Mapstone gets an assignment from a friend in the sheriff's office - go through the old "unsolved" files and clear them out one way or another. David doesn't expect to find any connection to the present or anything personal in any of these ancient cases. But when an old girlfriend turns up at his door asking him to help find her missing sister and the sister is later found murdered. David is atonished to see that her killing so closely parallels a 40-year-old case that it cannot be a coincidence.
About the Author
Jon Talton is a fourth-generation Arizonan. His writing was developed over 20 years as a journalist, working for newspapers in San Diego, Denver, Dayton, Cincinnati and Charlotte. Jon's columns have appeared in newspapers throughout North America. In 2001, Jon returned to Phoenix as a columnist for the Arizona Republic. Before journalism, Jon worked as an ambulance medic in the inner city of Phoenix. He was also a teacher. Educated at Arizona State University and Miami University of Ohio, Jon was also a Knight Fellow in Journalism at the University of Southern California. He lives in Phoenix's Willo Historic District with his wife, Susan.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
The storms don't come into the city anymore. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
The storms don't come into the city anymore. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Customer Reviews
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.co.uk.
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
14 reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
A Very Strong Debut--Hope To See More Mapstone Mysteries!
2 July 2001
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I read a couple of books over the weekend and had a good time with both, but the real find, for me, was Jon Talton's _Concrete Desert_, the debut of his character David Mapstone.
Mapstone holds a PhD in history and is in-between academic jobs, working part-time as a deputy for the sheriff's department in Phoenix. His job is to pull old, unsolved cases from the files and see if he can't put together some new leads. At the same time, he's approached by an old girlfriend, to pull some strings and see if he can find a lead on her missing sister. When his search for the sister begins to entangle itself with a 40-year-old unsolved murder, which might have been the work of a serial killer called "the Creeper," Mapstone begins to receive threats on his life.
Talton does a great job with setting here, bringing Phoenix and the 100+ degree summer heat to convincing life. Also, the historical research that his detective must do adds a fascinating touch to the novel and allows for quite a bit of comparison between the old city and the new one, which is growing at the rate of an acre of desert being taken over by development every hour. This historical digging into old cases is a neat idea for a fictional detective/mystery series and should lead to many more interesting future novels.
Talton also does a good job of creating some background characters, such as Mapstone's boss/mentor, Chief Deputy Mike Peralta, and a love interest, Lindsay Adams, who works in the records department. Both are characters we want to know more about and will, I hope, feature in future David Mapstone mysteries. A very promising debut!
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Exciting police procedural
21 Jun 2001
Format:Hardcover
Because he was politically incorrect, Professor David Mapstone failed to attain tenure at San Diego State or obtain a job at his alma mater Arizona State. He return to his hometown of Phoenix to accept a job at the sheriff's office working cold but open cases. He also teaches an American History course at the local college.
Maricopa County Chief Deputy Mike Perralta, David's former partner when he worked as a cop, assigns the professor with the 1959 Rebecca Stokes murder. At the same time, David's first girlfriend Julie Riding, who dumped him twenty years, ago asks for his help in finding her missing sister Phaedra. On the Stokes case, David links the murder with four similar killings. When the police find the corpse of Phaedra, David sees the same pattern as he found in the Stokes inquiry. David wonders if the killer is a three-decade old copycat, the original "Creeper" back on line, or an attempt to hide the homicide within a serial investigation?
CONCRETE DESERT is an exciting, very entertaining police procedural with a slight twist in that the main character is not a law enforcement official. The story line is fun as the complex David feels genuine and the law enforcement side of the cast provides further depth to his character. Though Julie and the suspects seem two-dimensional, they do not take away from a wonderful investigative tale.
Harriet Klausner
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Summer surprise
18 Aug 2001
Format:Hardcover
It's hard to believe Jon Talton is a first-time novelist after sailing through this can't-put-it-down mystery. He handles characterizations of a jobless history professor and a law enforcement professional beautifully, then stirs in his setting in Phoenix and Arizona with equal loving care. The unusual plot, people and place are blended into a winner that, perhaps, can develop into a book series. One easily recognizes that somewhere back in his past Talton had expert tutoring in use of the English language. It shows here in Concrete Desert.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
