Review: Pleasantly readable, but with flaws
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 12 25, 2011
The Dessert Waits, Breakaway Media Kindle Edition by J. Carson Black writing as Margaret Falk is a rambling mystery that places a group of Hollywood characters in the Arizona desert. (And I need to add a minor SPOILER ALERT.)Alex Cafarelli arrives in a remote desert hotel, not far from her home in Tucson, in response to a call for help from her childhood friend. The friend, Caroline Arnet, is a mega movie star appearing in the play being filmed on location, and is fearful for her life. The request is strange because the two have not seen each other in several years. However, Alex, whose parents were some of the wandering `hippies' so prominent in society for a time, feels that she `owes' Caroline for her help in their early school years.The day after the two women meet, Caroline is killed, on the day of her birthday, during a scene where live ammunition has replaced blanks in a pistol used in a scene. From here the plot evolves into discerning whether the exchange was a mistake or murder and questions whether an ensuing death is murder or suicide. The action involves the local sheriffs, members of the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Caroline's husband, a producer who was believed to be in Africa until his unannounced arrival for her birthday. Other members of the cast and filming crew, an eccentric hotel owner, and a number of other local characters complete the cast.The plot is acceptable and the pace adequate to make a decent mystery. The presentation of the Hollywood characters also is a more realistic presentation than usual. My problems are:  Often, when beginning a new chapter, there is a need to orient oneself to the subject in hand. The love interest appears to be too casually developed to be real, perhaps  because the Alex and Nick characters never are really `fleshed out'.  Many of Alex's actions and reactions are difficult to accept, especially when she is supposedly `at home in wilderness' and other similar settings where there is a need for self-reliance. Additionally, she would not need to await film development to see if her wildlife pictures depicted what she wanted. She would examine the tracks in the area. Another character, Maybelle, would not have "left her pistol in the truck". There would have been no reason to have removed it and most western holsters have a `tie-down' to keep them from being lost. It also is difficult to believe a number of investigative details; e.g., a check on Ted's flights.To conclude, The Desert Waits can be enjoyed as an involved mystery as long as the reader is not bothered by the features mentioned. Reviewed by John H. Manhold, award winning fiction/nonfiction author.