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DESERT WIVES
by Betty Webb
Poisoned Pen Press, January 2003
300 pages
$24.95
ISBN: 1590580303


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Every once in a while a book comes along in which the message is so strong it overwhelms the shortcomings of the novel. On the other hand, Cecil B. DeMille is supposed to have said, in regard to 'message' films. "If you want to send a message, call Western Union."

Desert Wives is certainly a novel with a message. The author is an investigative reporter for Phoenix area newspapers and it shows. When she's in that mode, her writing is spare, to the point, powerful and even dramatic. Everything a good reporter ought to produce. Where the book falls short is when the author writes dialogue and attempts to dramatize the event she write about in the manner of a good mystery novelist. And like all good novels, this one is based on reality.

This is a story of polygamy, set in the isolated towns amid the high plains along the Utah/Arizona border, a place where a lot of people are related and the prevailing attitude is live and let live. Or die. Scottsdale private investigator Lena Jones tries to locate the killer of a man called Prophet Solomon, who ran a large polygamous settlement called Purity. A woman, under great duress, has fled the place, rather than acquiesce to the forced marriage of her 13-year-old daughter to a man old enough to be her grandfather, a man who already has several wives.

The story begins in highly dramatic fashion when Lena goes into the desert to spirit away Rebecca from her father before the marriage can take place. In a remote canyon, Lena discovers the body of Solomon Profit in a scene which clearly indicates he was murdered. When Lena's client is arrested for the murder, it appears the girl will be returned to her father and the marriage will take place. In a desperate attempt to save the girl and the accused mother, Lena goes undercover as a sister wife to a sympathetic member of the clan. This gives her the opportunity to observe life in Purity.

In troubling scenes that remind one of the assaults on the Davidians at Waco, Texas, Lena explores Purity and discovers some awful secrets. The dialogue is at times preachy and stilted, and the pace of the book suffers from too many words, yet the story has an awful fascination that will hold readers to the end.

Reviewed by Carl Brookins, December 2003

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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