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The Arizona Triangle
(2024)(The first book in the Jo Bailen Detective series)
A novel by Sydney Graves
In the vein of the bestselling California noirs of Sue Grafton and Sara Gran, a whodunnit about loyalty, love, and the legacy of trauma featuring a hardboiled, queer private eye whose latest case takes her deep into her own complicated past.
On the cusp of forty, Justine Bailen, better known as Jo, works for an all-female detective agency based in Tucson, Arizona. While staking out a cheating spouse, she learns that her long-estranged best friend from childhood, Rose, is missing, and that Rose’s mother wants to hire Jo to find her. This case is all kinds of wrong for Jo, but she has no choice but to head back to her hometown, an hour north and a world away from Tucson.
Back in Delphi, she learns that her high school boyfriend, Tyler—who is probably part of the reason her friendship with Rose went south—is the cop assigned to the case. It doesn’t take long for Jo to realize that he’s all mixed up in it, too. To have any hope of learning the truth about Rose’s disappearance, Jo must finally face the demons she thought she’d escaped.
Genre: Mystery
On the cusp of forty, Justine Bailen, better known as Jo, works for an all-female detective agency based in Tucson, Arizona. While staking out a cheating spouse, she learns that her long-estranged best friend from childhood, Rose, is missing, and that Rose’s mother wants to hire Jo to find her. This case is all kinds of wrong for Jo, but she has no choice but to head back to her hometown, an hour north and a world away from Tucson.
Back in Delphi, she learns that her high school boyfriend, Tyler—who is probably part of the reason her friendship with Rose went south—is the cop assigned to the case. It doesn’t take long for Jo to realize that he’s all mixed up in it, too. To have any hope of learning the truth about Rose’s disappearance, Jo must finally face the demons she thought she’d escaped.
Genre: Mystery
Praise for this book
"The Arizona Triangle reminds me why I love mysteries. Christenson's book sneaks up on you; what starts as an ordinary little mystery slowly turns into a deep look into family and connection in the desert southwest. Read The Arizona Triangle in the desert if you can; this book brings the beautiful strangeness of Arizona to life." - Sara Gran
"Sydney Graves has crafted a gorgeously written southwestern noir that straddles the line between literary and genre in a landscape whose spaciousness and light contrast sharply with the darkness of crime and the treacherous terrain of personal history. Graves has caught beautifully the complex textures and woodsmoke tang of Tucson and the rich high desert environment, and gone beyond that to create characters and a community as particular and elemental as a great western. And her protagonist, Jo Bailen, is as distinctly wrought and shaped as a Sahuaro cactus. I loved her and this story." - Peter Nichols
"A queer PI in an all-female detective agency housed in a sorry part of Tucson - for starters. Then there are the horrifyingly grotesque actions of a tortured soul. But who? A suspenseful thriller that'll keep you guessing till the very end." - Stella Sands
"The Arizona Triangle is a taut, propulsive, and darkly funny modern noir. And Jo Bailen, the complex protagonist of this twisted Arizona whodunit, is a welcome addition to the pantheon of sleuths with big appetites and bulldog instincts. Gritty entertainment at its best." - Peter Swanson
"Oh, goody goody! A new mystery series, with a smart, complicated sleuth, great writing, and a can't-guess-the-killer plot. What's not to love?" - Monica Wood
"Sydney Graves has crafted a gorgeously written southwestern noir that straddles the line between literary and genre in a landscape whose spaciousness and light contrast sharply with the darkness of crime and the treacherous terrain of personal history. Graves has caught beautifully the complex textures and woodsmoke tang of Tucson and the rich high desert environment, and gone beyond that to create characters and a community as particular and elemental as a great western. And her protagonist, Jo Bailen, is as distinctly wrought and shaped as a Sahuaro cactus. I loved her and this story." - Peter Nichols
"A queer PI in an all-female detective agency housed in a sorry part of Tucson - for starters. Then there are the horrifyingly grotesque actions of a tortured soul. But who? A suspenseful thriller that'll keep you guessing till the very end." - Stella Sands
"The Arizona Triangle is a taut, propulsive, and darkly funny modern noir. And Jo Bailen, the complex protagonist of this twisted Arizona whodunit, is a welcome addition to the pantheon of sleuths with big appetites and bulldog instincts. Gritty entertainment at its best." - Peter Swanson
"Oh, goody goody! A new mystery series, with a smart, complicated sleuth, great writing, and a can't-guess-the-killer plot. What's not to love?" - Monica Wood
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