Dry Heat

by Jon Talton

Book Overview

In Dry Heat, David Mapstone, The History Cop, is assigned to find out why an FBI agent's badge turns up on the dead body of a homeless man. 7,500, print.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312333854
• ISBN13: 9780312333850
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 213 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Dry Heat

David Mapstone and his wife Lindsay are a delightful pair of crime solvers: David because he really doesn't want to be but can't refuse the order of the Sheriff to work a long-dead case, and Lindsay because her life is in serious jeopardy if they don't solve the case soon. It's also great to read about a couple that are not romanticized but are definitely committed to each other. The reason these books are so appealing is that the author Jon Talton makes such wonderful, insightful and downright derogatory comments about Phoenix that are SO true! It is a city without a soul. Talton's style is clean, clear, and the plots are complex enough to keep the reader going.

Mapstone returns in "Dry Heat"

"'It's a new dark age," he said at one point. "Nobody reads anymore. People are losing the ability to think. Television has destroyed us. I'm glad I won't live to see the worst of it.'" (Dry Heat, Page 73) History and the dead, victims of crime or otherwise, have been constant themes of this enjoyable series. So too has been the price of progress and resulting urban sprawl and what that has done to Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area. Those themes continue in this third novel of the series, which also deals with modern day realities of the Russian Mafia and terrorism. In 1948 the body of FBI Agent John Pilgrim was found floating in a canal outside what was then small city of Phoenix, Arizona. Over 200 agents spent more than two months working the case before it was ruled a suicide and buried by FBI management. Now, an elderly homeless man has been found dead, floating in a swimming pool, at approximately the same location. Homeless people die everyday across this country and that isn't why the media are circling above by helicopter or clogging the neighborhood streets below with satellite trucks. Word is already out that the dead homeless man had the dead agent's badge. A badge that vanished in 1948 and never found, was sewn inside the dead man's coat. An interagency taskforce is formed and launches an investigation with all the political backstabbing and power plays that go along with such things. Assigned to the case, Deputy Sheriff David Mapstone should be focused entirely at the matter at hand but he can't focus that well. Recently married to Deputy Lindsey, he knows how lucky he is and is reminded thanks to the death of a good friend and mentor, how fragile life is. When the Russian Mafia begins to retaliate for the success of Lindsey's team that stopped dead a multi million dollar fraud operation using stolen credit card identities, both Lindsey and David are forced to go into hiding. Hiding is something that neither one is good at, especially with Mapstone pushed to solve his own case. Containing twists and at times intense action, this novel continues the overall character story arc begun in the first novel "Concrete Desert." Enjoyable as the others, this novel does have more of a melancholy feel to it. Without giving too much away it is safe to say that some decisions for the future have to be made and the ending has enough wiggle room that it can be interpreted in two different ways. Not to say both cases aren't satisfactorily resolved, because they are. While the Russian Mafia case is resolved pretty much as expected, the Pilgrim case has one final twist at the end that is shocking in its simplicity. Little new is added to the characters as the novel has Mapstone contemplating not only the past of Phoenix and what progress has done to the city in the last fifty plus years, but his own checkered and complex past and recent developments. Some of this ground has been covered before in "Concrete Desert" and "Camelback Falls" bu

Talton is Terrific!

With Dry Heat, his third David Mapstone novel, Jon Talton has joined the ranks of the best of detective novelists. His first two are excellent reads, but in this one, Talton seems to have reached a new level of maturity in his writing. The somewhat complicated plot is neatly woven together by Talton as detective David Mapstone delves into the dusty archives of the old county courthouse to discover the identity of a homeless man, whose body is found in an abandoned pool in an undesirable neighborhood. Mapstone's wife, who has used her considerable computer skills to crack the Russian Mafia, finds her own life in danger, and Mapstone must try to protect her, while continuing to investigate the death of the homeless man. Talton deftly manages the interweaving plots, describing the research skills of former professor, Mapstone, displaying the investigator's dedication to seeking truth, and revealing his genuine and deep love for Lindsey. Talton knows Phoenix and Arizona and has an obvious love for the city, yet is painfully aware of its problems and particularly of the sprawl that has changed this city so drastically in the past several decades. Anyone who has lived in or visited Phoenix will enjoy the local color, incuding his descriptions of the fabulous sunsets,and also of the violence of wind storms. But those who have never been there will also enjoy an excellent read. I found this book to be a real page turner and look forward to more from this author.

fine "History Shamus" tale

Having a homeless person die is no big deal anywhere in this country. However, having a homeless person die with an FBI's badge sewn into his pocket raises eyebrows. When that badge found on the John Doe belonged to Agent John Pilgrim murdered in 1948, nothing makes sense. The FBI asks Maricopa County, Arizona Deputy s David Mapstone to help on the case because he brings a unique perspective to an investigation. A former San Diego State University Professor of History, David looks at clues from the viewpoint of a historian sifting through information. The Feds believe that point of view might explain how a badge lost over fifty years ago surfaced on a dead; ironically the FBI fails to cooperate when it comes to providing full information on the long dead agent. However David has other concerns involving his wife Lindsey; a computer whiz, she several others cracked a case involving the Russian mafia; now three members of her team have been assassinated. As the Mapstones struggle to stay alive, the professor begins solving the current spin of the cold case homicide. The third "History Shamus" tale is an intriguing mystery especially when David works the cold case with little cooperation from the FBI, who wants to restrict his investigation to how the homeless person got the badge. His work also puts him in professional conflict with the Cold Case Squad. The sidebar involving his spouse adds suspense and ultimately ties back to the prime theme, but can be distracting until the reader sees the links. DRY HEAT is a terrific entry in a fine unique police procedural (see CAMELBACK FALLS and CONCRETE DESERT for the previous novels). Harriet Klausner

Talton does it again

Mapstone is at his intellectual and deep-feeling best in Talton's third David Mapstone mystery, DRY HEAT. The dialogue is pure Talton -- witty, gritty and insightful. The story is another sophisticated tale of Mapstone, a history professor turned sheriff's deputy, taking on crime in the blistering heat of Phoenix, this time with his wife, Lindsey, whose life is in danger because of some Russian mafia-busting she's done. As usual, Talton's strong sense of place and history make this a book even non-mystery buffs like me love. Anyone who believes Phoenix is a Shangri-la of swimming pools and merely "dry heat" will appreciate Mapstone's nuanced view of the sprawling city as an "acquired taste." The book's cadence is peppered with fresh turns of phrase, such as Mapstone's contention that con artists, misfits and other "rough-hewn faces" end up in Phoenix, "as if the city is the last fence line catching the unattached debris of a windy world." Thanks for another one, Mapstone and Talton.