The Desert Keeps Its Dead — Tony Richards

The desert … it prefers to keep its dead. It wraps them up in its hot, dry arms, leeching the moisture from their skin …. Ex-FBI agent turned private eye Matt Barrett arrives in Sunset City, Arizona searching for a teenage runaway, only to find her dead and buried in the desert sand. Investigating further, he learns that other young girls have gone missing. It seems there may be a serial killer on the loose. But Sunset City is an unwelcoming place of dark, closely-guarded secrets, and Barrett is resisted at every step of the way, soon finding his own life in danger … A gripping, noirish debut crime novel from acclaimed horror and dark fantasy author Tony Richards. ‘He's convincing … convincing enough that the locals will read about their city as described by Tony Richards and shudder. And that's what we call a writers' writer.' â€" John Pelan.