Suspense Magazine.com presents - Betty Webb |
| While scouting locations for a film documentary on Arizona’s Apache Wars, private investigator Lena Jones and Oscar-winning director Warren Quinn discover the mutilated body of a young girl. The gruesome manner of the child’s death evokes memories of Lena’s own rough childhood. Despite clashing with the local law, Lena investigate’s the child’s death and discovers a small town with a big secret. Los Perdidos is not the Eden it first appears. Founded by the descendants of pioneers who fought Geronimo, it now holds a significant population of documented and undocumented foreign-born residents who live and work at the local chemical plant. Lena senses a sinister force at work in the town -- but where? The still vivid memory of Geronimo’s war mixes with the modern immigration war, and the hard life on the Arizona/Mexico border contrasts with Hollywood’s slick production meetings, and the cruelty of an ancient practice is tempered by a growing underground railroad fighting to save its young victims. |
| Betty Webb is a very accomplished author by writing five books in her excellent "Desert Series" featuring Lena Jones. "Desert Cut" is her latest release and continues to evolve her character Lena Jones even further. She has received great reviews from the New York Times and Publisher Weekly and you can add Suspense Magazine to that list. We found Betty to be very creative with her story telling and should be loved by all. |
| Click on any of the book images below to learn more about the books!! |
Exclusive Interview with Betty Webb
Who would you say has been your biggest inspiration?
Boy, I have so many! My aunt Verla, who taught me to read at the age of 3; my high school
teacher, who told me I should be a writer, because I was hopeless at anything else; Agatha Christie, for
showing me what to write... and Barbara Peters of Poisoned Pen Press for publishing my Lena Jones
and Gunn Zoo series!
What is your all-time favorite book?
All time? Ew! I'd have to say it's a tie between Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind," and
Frederick Buechner's "Lion Country," a comic novel about the Reverend Bebb, a crooked, mail-order
preacher who commits good in between his crimes. It's the first of a teratology about the same
preacher, and has since been republished in one volume called, "The Book of Bebb."
How long do you normally take to research your books?
At least a year. In the case of "Desert Wives," which is about polygamy, it took me 4 years, and
several trips up to Arizona's polygamy compounds. New new Lena Jones novel, "Desert Cut," took
about four years, because I had to research various Northern African customs and rites. For my new
series, set in the fictional Gunn Zoo, "The Anteater of Death" took me 3 years of volunteering at the
Phoenix Zoo and talking to every zookeeper I could flag down. My research is always a couple of books
ahead of what I'm writing at the moment. For instance, right now I'm writing the sixth Lena Jones book
("Desert Lost," a follow-up to my polygamy book), but I'm researching the material that will go into the
seventh and eighth books. I'm also in the process of researching the second and third Gunn Zoo book.
What is on your Ipod now?
Nuthin', 'cause I ain't got no Ipod -- I'm an old-fashioned girl. On my stereo, however, I have a
beautiful CD named "Resonance," performed by Acoustic Triangle, an English chamber group I heard on
the BBC's "Inspector Lewis" mystery series. But I've also been known to play heavy metal. I think
Metallica's version of "Whiskey in the Jar" is a classic.
Do you have any superstitions when you write, little quirks, etc?
If you saw my desk, with all the Pima, Hopi, and Zuni fetishes and faux petroglyphs, you'd see
what a superstitious little devil I am. But I also have a cross given to me on Good Friday at a Saxon
church in England, a feather I picked off the ground at the site of the Battle of Hastings, an Elvis
bobblehead, a stuffed Shakespeare doll, two geckos, two space aliens (plastic, not real), and a big
plush Anteater named Lucy.
If you could solve any mystery for yourself, what would it be?
Why women and girls are so often left out of the human rights discussion.
If you could talk to any person, Alive or Dead, for one hour, who would it be?
Jesus, just after he finished delivering the Sermon on the Mount. That talk is so moving that I'd
like to ask him why more people -- whether they be Cabalists, Hindus, Buddists, Muslims, Christians or
whatever -- don't pay any attention to one of the first true treatises on universal human rights.
I love to hear stories from authors about their first published book, how did you get
it done?
I was a full-time reporter for a large newspaper chain, which required a lot of evening work. The
only time I had available to write was between 4 and 8 in the morning, so I trained myself to get up
even before the birds did. Yeah, it was hell for the first couple of years, but then I got into the swing of
things, and to this day, get up at 4 a.m. That first mystery novel remains unpublished (I finally realized
it had a noir plot populated by cozy characters). My second mystery novel was "Desert Noir," the first
Lena Jones book -- noir plot, noir characters. It quickly found an agent, and shortly thereafter, found
Poisoned Pen Press. But I learned a lot from that failure: for instance, always make certain your setting
and characters match the plot -- otherwise your manuscript is as dead as your victim.
What future plans can you tell us about?
I'll continue the Lena Jones books -- in the 10th, we'll finally find out what happened to her
parents. And I'll keep on with the Gunn Zoo books. I love both series, probably since they reflect the
two, very different sides, of my personality. My own nature is pretty sunny, more like my zookeeper's in
the zoo books. However, my deep beliefs in human rights issues(which DEFINITELY include women's
rights) are reflected in Lena Jones's desire to right un-addressed wrongs against women and children.
When you are not writing, what do you like to do for fun?
I hang out at the Phoenix Zoo, where I'm starting my fourth year of volunteer work. I do most of
my volunteering in Monkey Village, where 16 squirrel monkeys run free in a large enclosure, and
humans walk among them. My job is to make certain humans don't pull monkey tails, and that monkey
teeth don't nip human fingers. As Mick Jagger once sang, it's a gas, gas, gas.
Boy, I have so many! My aunt Verla, who taught me to read at the age of 3; my high school
teacher, who told me I should be a writer, because I was hopeless at anything else; Agatha Christie, for
showing me what to write... and Barbara Peters of Poisoned Pen Press for publishing my Lena Jones
and Gunn Zoo series!
What is your all-time favorite book?
All time? Ew! I'd have to say it's a tie between Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind," and
Frederick Buechner's "Lion Country," a comic novel about the Reverend Bebb, a crooked, mail-order
preacher who commits good in between his crimes. It's the first of a teratology about the same
preacher, and has since been republished in one volume called, "The Book of Bebb."
How long do you normally take to research your books?
At least a year. In the case of "Desert Wives," which is about polygamy, it took me 4 years, and
several trips up to Arizona's polygamy compounds. New new Lena Jones novel, "Desert Cut," took
about four years, because I had to research various Northern African customs and rites. For my new
series, set in the fictional Gunn Zoo, "The Anteater of Death" took me 3 years of volunteering at the
Phoenix Zoo and talking to every zookeeper I could flag down. My research is always a couple of books
ahead of what I'm writing at the moment. For instance, right now I'm writing the sixth Lena Jones book
("Desert Lost," a follow-up to my polygamy book), but I'm researching the material that will go into the
seventh and eighth books. I'm also in the process of researching the second and third Gunn Zoo book.
What is on your Ipod now?
Nuthin', 'cause I ain't got no Ipod -- I'm an old-fashioned girl. On my stereo, however, I have a
beautiful CD named "Resonance," performed by Acoustic Triangle, an English chamber group I heard on
the BBC's "Inspector Lewis" mystery series. But I've also been known to play heavy metal. I think
Metallica's version of "Whiskey in the Jar" is a classic.
Do you have any superstitions when you write, little quirks, etc?
If you saw my desk, with all the Pima, Hopi, and Zuni fetishes and faux petroglyphs, you'd see
what a superstitious little devil I am. But I also have a cross given to me on Good Friday at a Saxon
church in England, a feather I picked off the ground at the site of the Battle of Hastings, an Elvis
bobblehead, a stuffed Shakespeare doll, two geckos, two space aliens (plastic, not real), and a big
plush Anteater named Lucy.
If you could solve any mystery for yourself, what would it be?
Why women and girls are so often left out of the human rights discussion.
If you could talk to any person, Alive or Dead, for one hour, who would it be?
Jesus, just after he finished delivering the Sermon on the Mount. That talk is so moving that I'd
like to ask him why more people -- whether they be Cabalists, Hindus, Buddists, Muslims, Christians or
whatever -- don't pay any attention to one of the first true treatises on universal human rights.
I love to hear stories from authors about their first published book, how did you get
it done?
I was a full-time reporter for a large newspaper chain, which required a lot of evening work. The
only time I had available to write was between 4 and 8 in the morning, so I trained myself to get up
even before the birds did. Yeah, it was hell for the first couple of years, but then I got into the swing of
things, and to this day, get up at 4 a.m. That first mystery novel remains unpublished (I finally realized
it had a noir plot populated by cozy characters). My second mystery novel was "Desert Noir," the first
Lena Jones book -- noir plot, noir characters. It quickly found an agent, and shortly thereafter, found
Poisoned Pen Press. But I learned a lot from that failure: for instance, always make certain your setting
and characters match the plot -- otherwise your manuscript is as dead as your victim.
What future plans can you tell us about?
I'll continue the Lena Jones books -- in the 10th, we'll finally find out what happened to her
parents. And I'll keep on with the Gunn Zoo books. I love both series, probably since they reflect the
two, very different sides, of my personality. My own nature is pretty sunny, more like my zookeeper's in
the zoo books. However, my deep beliefs in human rights issues(which DEFINITELY include women's
rights) are reflected in Lena Jones's desire to right un-addressed wrongs against women and children.
When you are not writing, what do you like to do for fun?
I hang out at the Phoenix Zoo, where I'm starting my fourth year of volunteer work. I do most of
my volunteering in Monkey Village, where 16 squirrel monkeys run free in a large enclosure, and
humans walk among them. My job is to make certain humans don't pull monkey tails, and that monkey
teeth don't nip human fingers. As Mick Jagger once sang, it's a gas, gas, gas.
