I’ll begin this review by disclosing that I have decided to stop reading Jon Talton, whom I originally liked very much. I’ll explain my reasons below. Two more reviews are coming, however (this one and the next), because I like the author enough that it was hard to make the break. However, he ticks me off in a couple ways.

The first way is that he jerks his readers around by way of soap opera-style drama in his hero’s, David Maphouse’s, romantic life. As South Phoenix Rules begins, we find that his wife Lindsey, with whom he was blissfully happy the last time we looked, is now working out of town and pondering divorce. To complicate matters more, her long-lost, bad-girl sister Robin is now living in David’s house (at Lindsey’s insistence) and flirting heavily with him.

Then Robin receives a FedEx delivery that I won’t describe to you, which sets David – who has just resigned as a Maricopa County sheriff’s deputy – to investigating the drug business in and around Phoenix. This is the darkest, most violent story in the series to date, with David going full vigilante. There’s also a shocking murder that changes the shape of the whole series scenario.

The second reason I’ve grown annoyed with author Talton is his repeated assertion that the Tea Party, and anyone concerned about the border, must be motivated by pure racism. He seems to prefer a situation where white employers exploit underpaid foreign labor, undercutting wages for poor Americans of all races. I’m not saying it’s not a debatable and complex issue. I’m just tired of his simplistic, libelous assertions.

But I’m reading one more book, and I’ll probably review that tomorrow. No more after that.