Desert Rage
A Lena Jones Mystery

Ferociously ambitious US senatorial candidate Juliana Thorsson has been keeping a secret. The horrific slaughter of a prominent doctor, his wife, and their ten-year-old son inside their Scottsdale home brings Thorsson to private investigator Lena Jones. The slain familys fourteen-year-old, Alison, and her boyfriend, Kyle, have confessed to the murders. Thorsson wants to hire Lena to discover if Alison is telling the truth, but before accepting the job, Lena demands to know why a rising political star wants to involve herself with the fate of a girl shes never met. Desperate for Lenas help, Thorsson reveals her explosive secretthat Alison is the candidates biological daughter, a fact shes kept hidden for years. But thats not all. Thorsson then confides something even more unusual than a mere hidden pregnancysomething that could ruin her political plans forever. Suspecting that Alisons parents had secrets of their own that could have led to the murders, Lena finally accepts Thorssons assignment. But interviewing those who knew the family well soon puts Lenanow a strong defender of the two teensin danger of her life. Fast paced, probing, and filled with the trademark twists of the Lena Jones series, Desert Rage once again displays that Betty Webb is unsparing of her characters yet writes their stories with wit and compassion.