Cactus Heart
Jon Talton
Poisoned Pen, May 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 1590583523

In 1999 Phoenix, Arizona, historian David Mapstone is a consultant to the Sheriff's Department and a deputy who works cold cases. One night while out to dinner with his lover, his boss, Chief Deputy Mike Peralta, interrupts. Three criminals are hijacking a car. One was immediately caught, another was captured by David and Peralta in a warehouse; the third remains free. During the warehouse arrest, a wall crumbled; inside were the skeleton of two children and a pocket watch.

David notes that the watch contained the brand of the Yarnell Empire and that the remains are probably the Yarnell identical twins kidnapped during the Depression. David is assigned to affirm his theory and close the case, which seems simple to do by matching DNA from the bones with that of a live Yarnell descendent. However, to his shock the DNA samples are not a match yet all other circumstantial evidence and dental records affirms these are the brothers. As he ponders the stunning information, someone murders the head of the Yarnell family making his inquiry take a modern, murderous twist.

This is a well-written police procedural starring an intelligent protagonist who is able to look brilliantly at issues from a variety of perspectives - something few people can do. David's analysis of the present and the past, especially the abduction, will surprise readers yet remains plausible. That is the key to a terrific investigation of a Depression-Era double murder and a modern day linked homicide. Jon Talton provides an entertaining mystery.

Harriet Klausner