by Jon Talton
“Talton crisply evokes Phoenix’s New West ambience and keeps readers guessing with unexpected plot twists.” —Publishers Weekly
About this Series
PHOENIX COLD CASES
It was back to square one for David Mapstone.
Perhaps the ex-cop was never cut out for academia: after losing his job and, with it, his home in California, he’s back in Phoenix, Arizona; the desert city he left behind a lifetime ago. In the intervening decades, Phoenix has changed – the city is booming, wealthy. But behind the riches lie violence and corruption.
It’s not a city that needs history professors. It needs cops.
For Mapstone, there was nothing for it but a return to law enforcement. Not that he’s left his academic training behind: his return to the Sheriff’s Office is a place on the cold case desk.
As a historian, Mapstone learned two things. One: the past is never past. Two: everything is connected. As a cop, he learned just one: never trust anyone.
At least he now gets to face history armed with a .357 magnum Colt Python. And its just as well – he’s going to need it: the desert has its secrets and it’s not about to give them up easily.
1. Concrete Desert
A young woman’s body is found dumped in the desert in circumstances identical to those of an infamous 40-year-old unsolved murder.
Concrete Desert is available here.
2. Cactus Heart
Mapstone unearths the skeletons of a pair of four-year-old twins, the victims in a notorious Depression-era kidnapping case. But what should be a matter of tying up loose ends quickly becomes something more sinister, more personal… and more deadly.
Cactus Heart is available here.
3. Camelback Falls
When Sheriff Peralta is shot by a sniper, Mapstone must confront his own past and the deadly consequences of a small-town shoot-out in 1979 that left Peralta and Mapstone standing over four dead bodies.
Camelback Falls is available here.
4. Dry Heat
Half a century after the unsolved murder of an FBI agent, the victim’s missing badge is found on the body of a dead transient. The trail leads Mapstone into the Arizonan desert, and eventually to San Francisco, as he slowly uncovers the bloody secrets surrounding the FBI badge.
Dry Heat is available here.
5. Arizona Dreams
Mapstone receives a letter confessing to a forty-year-old murder and providing directions to the body. But things are never what they seem in Phoenix. There’s a body right where the letter said it would be – but it’s only weeks old, not years…
Arizona Dreams is available here.
6. South Phoenix Rules
Phoenix, Arizona in August. It’s 114 degrees in the shade but its going to get even hotter for cold case investigator David Mapstone when he starts investigating a drug cartel execution.
South Phoenix Rules is available here.
About the Author
Jon Talton is a fourth-generation Arizonan who grew up in the same Phoenix neighbourhood that David Mapstone calls home. A journalist of more than twenty years, he now lives in Washington state where he is the economics columnist for the Seattle Times and writes the Rogue Columnist blog.
About Head of Zeus
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First published in the UK in 2012 by Head of Zeus Ltd.
Copyright © Jon Talton, 2006
The moral right of Jon Talton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (E) 9781781850350
Printed in Germany.
Head of Zeus Ltd
Clerkenwell House
45-47 Clerkenwell Green
London EC1R 0HT
www.headofzeus.com
Contents
Cover
Welcome Page
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Epilogue
Preview
Acknowledgments
About this Book
Reviews
About this Series
About the Author
About Head of Zeus
Copyright
