Jon Talton – författare

A cache of diamonds is stolen in Phoenix. The prime suspect is former Maricopa County Sheriff Mike Peralta, now a private investigator. Disappearing into Arizona''s mountainous High Country, Peralta leaves his business partner and longtime friend David Mapstone with a stark choice. He can cooperate with the FBI, or strike out on his own to find Peralta and what really happened.

Mapstone knows he can count on his wife Lindsey, one of the top "good hackers" in law enforcement. But what if they''ve both been betrayed? Mapstone is tested further when the new sheriff wants him back as a deputy, putting to use his historian''s expertise to solve a very special cold case. The stakes turn deadly when David and Lindsey are stalked by a trained killer whose specialty is "suiciding" her targets.

In depressed, post-recession Phoenix, every certainty has become scrambled, from the short hustle of the powerful real-estate industry to the loyalties Mapstone once took for granted. Could Peralta really be a jewel thief or worse? The deeper Mapstone digs into the world of sun-baked hustlers, corrupt cops, moneyed retirees, and mobsters, the more things are not what they seem. Ultimately, Mapstone must risk everything to find the truth.

High Country Nocturne is an ambitious, searing, and gritty novel, with a fast-paced story as hard-edged as the stolen diamonds themselves.

"Talton shines in weaving together the mystery elements of the plots with historical events from the Prohibition period. Fast-paced, gritty, and exciting, this one will have fans of both Depression-era and southwestern-set crime fiction begging for more!"

—Booklist, Starred Review

A fresh take on classic noir, City of Dark Corners reveals the seedy underbelly of the budding city of Phoenix in the 1930s and the lengths one man will go to uphold justice no matter the cost.

Phoenix, 1933: A young city with big dreams and dark corners

Great War veteran and rising star Gene Hammons lost his job as a homicide detective when he tried to prove that a woman was wrongly convicted of murder to protect a well-connected man. Now a private investigator, Hammons makes his living looking for missing persons—a plentiful caseload during the Great Depression, when people seem to disappear all the time.

But his routine is disrupted when his brother—another homicide detective, still on the force—enlists his help looking into the death of a young woman whose dismembered body is found beside the railroad tracks. The sheriff rules it an accident, but the carnage is too neat, and the staging of the body parts too ritual. Hammons suspects it''s the work of a "lust murderer"—similar to the serial strangler whose killing spree he had ended a few years earlier. But who was the poor girl, dressed demurely in pink? And why was his business card tucked into her small purse? As Hammons searches for the victim''s identity, he discovers that the dead girl had some secrets of her own, and that the case is connected to some of Phoenix''s most powerful citizens—on both sides of the law.

Perfect for fans of David Baldacci and historical mysteries, City of Dark Corners puts readers at the heart of the fear and uncertainty of the Great Depression and the lawlessness of America during prohibition.

Additional praise for City of Dark Corners:

"This gritty stand-alone deals with Phoenix''s rough-and-tumble past and its questionable police force in the 1930s. Talton excels at creating the ambiance of historic Phoenix. [Suggested] for fans of realistic historical mysteries or Phoenix Noir."

—Library Journal, Starred Review

"References to movie actors and other celebrities of the day, as well as speakeasies and bootleggers, lend atmosphere to this well-crafted tale involving desperate people who could easily disappear."

—Publishers Weekly

Cheryl Beth Wilson, a nurse at Cincinnati Memorial Hospital, finds a doctor brutally murdered in a secluded office. Wilson had been having an affair with the doctor’s husband, a surgeon, and now she is a “person of interest,” if not an outright suspect. But someone other than the police is also watching Cheryl Beth.

The murder comes as former homicide detective Will Borders is just out of surgery. But as his stretcher is wheeled past the crime scene, he knows this is no random act of violence—in fact, it has all the marks of a serial-killer case he supposedly solved years before. Unable even to walk, Borders starts to investigate, teaming up with Cheryl Beth, who is desperate to clear her name. But as the killer grows closer, the two are running out of time to unlock the secrets of the murder at the brooding, old hospital.

A handsome young New York professor comes to Phoenix to research his new book. When he is brutally murdered, police connect him to one of the world''s most deadly drug cartels. This shouldn''t be a case for historian‑turned‑deputy David Mapstone—except that the victim had been dating David''s sister‑in‑law, Robin, and now she''s a target too. David''s wife, Lindsey, is in Washington with an elite anti-cyber-terror unit and she makes one demand of him: protect Robin.

This won''t be an easy job, with the city police suspicious of Robin and trying to pressure her. With the sheriff''s office in turmoil, David is even more of an outsider. And the gangsters are able to outgun and outspend law enforcement. It doesn''t help that David and Lindsey''s long‑distance marriage is under strain. But the danger is real and growing. To save Robin, David must leave his stack of historic crimes and plunge into the savage world of smuggling—people, drugs, and guns—in Phoenix.

Arizona''s "History Shamus" returns inSouth Phoenix Rules. It''s the most gripping and personal David Mapstone Mystery yet.

When his friend Peralta, newly sworn in as sheriff, is shot by a sniper, David Mapstone, former historian and new deputy sheriff, can’t keep a cool, academic distance—and he’d better not. While Peralta lies comatose in the hospital, the powers that be install Mapstone as acting sheriff in his friend’s place. Mapstone feels unqualified, but he’s the only person whose temporary appointment won’t infuriate all the other candidates, who want the sheriff’s position permanently. Meanwhile, a cryptic note scrawled by Peralta before the shooting forces Mapstone to confront his own personal history, inadvertently drawing him into danger. Mapstone soon discovers that the past has deadly consequences and the mean streets of the new West have never been more sinister.

He''s a man whose life is so intertwined with his job that we know him only as "the columnist." He writes for a newspaper in Seattle, isn''t afraid to stir up trouble, and keeps his life—including his multiple lovers and his past—in safe compartments. It''s all about to be violently upended when he goes out on what seems like the most mundane of assignments, looking into a staid company that "never makes news."

But from the moment one of his sources takes a dive off a downtown skyscraper, the columnist is plunged into a harrowing maze of murder, intrigue, and secrets that powerful forces intend to keep hidden at all costs. All he has to go on is a corporate world where nothing is as it seems, increasingly menacing encounters with mysterious federal agents, and the unsettling meme "eleven/eleven." Meanwhile, the paper itself is dying. The columnist joins with an aggressive young reporter to see if one explosive story can save a newspaper—and much more. They''re running to make the deadline of their lives, and failure will bring lethal consequences.

Deadline Manis Jon Talton at his best, a novel that is both electrifying and intelligent, capturing the romance and harsh reality of newspaper journalism while raising important questions that will haunt listeners long after the fast-paced action ends.

Cincinnati homicide detective Will Borders now walks with a cane and lives alone in constant discomfort. He''s lucky to be alive. He''s lucky to have his job as public information officer for the department. But when a star cop is brutally murdered, Borders is assigned to find her killer.

The crime bears a chilling similarity to killings on the once peaceful college campus nearby, where his friend Cheryl Beth Wilson teaches nursing. The two young victims were her students. Most homicides are routine, the suspects readily apparent. But there are no obvious suspects in this new case.

The unlikely pair of Detective Borders and Professor Wilson must team up once again to pursue a sadistic predator before there are more killings. But finding the killer will mean uncovering some of the darkest secrets in a Midwestern metropolis where change is slow, where tradition and history lay as thick as the summer humidity, and where lethal danger can hide in the most respected of places.

Diamonds, greed, corrupt cops, mobsters—David Mapstone is about to be tested like never before.

A cache of diamonds is stolen in Phoenix. The prime suspect is former Maricopa County sheriff Mike Peralta, now a private investigator. Disappearing into Arizona’s mountainous high country, Peralta leaves his business partner and longtime friend David Mapstone with a stark choice: he can cooperate with the FBI, or strike out on his own to find Peralta and what really happened.

Mapstone knows he can count on his wife, Lindsey, one of the top “good hackers” in law enforcement. But what if they’ve both been betrayed? Mapstone is tested further when the new sheriff wants him back as a deputy, putting to use his historian’s expertise to solve a very special cold case. The stakes turn deadly when David and Lindsey are stalked by a trained killer whose specialty is “suiciding” her targets.

In depressed, postrecession Phoenix, every certainty has become scrambled, from the short hustle of the powerful real-estate industry to the loyalties Mapstone once took for granted. Could Peralta really be a jewel thief … or worse? The deeper Mapstone digs into the world of sunbaked hustlers, corrupt cops, moneyed retirees, and mobsters, the more things are not what they seem. Ultimately, Mapstone must risk everything to find the truth.

High Country Nocturne is an ambitious, searing, and gritty novel, with a fast-paced story as hard-edged as the stolen diamonds themselves.