The Last of the Smoking Bartenders by C J Howell
WW2 crime mystery set in Canterbury, Kent (and London)
Ten Great Books set in ARIZONA
4th May 2026
Ten great books set in Arizona.
Arizona is a state of striking contrasts, where arid deserts meet snow-capped peaks. Known as the Grand Canyon State, it is home to one of the world’s most iconic natural wonders, carved by the Colorado River over millions of years.
Beyond the canyon, the landscape features the towering saguaro cacti of the Sonoran Desert and the vibrant red rocks of Sedona. Arizona’s history is a rich tapestry of Indigenous cultures, Spanish influence, and Old West legends. Today, it is a hub for innovation and tourism, offering everything from the bustling urban energy of Phoenix to the high-altitude pine forests of Flagstaff.
Here are ten of our favourite titles
Crossers by Phil Caputo
When Gil Castle loses his wife, he retreats to his family’s sprawling homestead out west, a forsaken part of the country where drug lords have more power than police. Here Castle begins to rebuild his life, even as he uncovers some dark truths about his fearsome grandfather. When a Mexican illegal shows up at the ranch, terrified after a border-crossing drug deal gone bad, Castle agrees to take him in. Yet his act of generosity sets off a flood of violence and vengeance, a fierce reminder that we never truly escape our history. Spanning three generations of an Arizona family, Crossers is a blistering novel about the brutality and beauty of life on the border.
Dry Heat by Len Joy
When a promising high school athlete is falsely accused of shooting a cop, he enlists the aid of a notorious gang leader to find the real shooter, unleashing a chain of events that alters the course of his life and that of the girl he loves.
“Dry Heat is a page turner with heart. A tale of star-crossed lovers…this smoothly written novel is full of friendship, family, and redemption.” — Nickolas Butler, author of Shotgun Lovesongs and Godspeed
“A rousing suspenseful crime drama with memorable characters.” — Kirkus Reviews
“DRY HEAT explores the nuances of the criminal justice system and the circumstances surrounding an individual being convicted for a crime he did not commit. …a moving coming-of-age piece.” — BookLife
“Len Joy is a master storyteller.” — Gregory Lee Renz, author of Beneath the Flames
Fear The Darkness by Becky Masterman
Ex-FBI Agent Brigid Quinn thinks she has a second chance at life. After too many years spent in the company of evil, she’s quit the Feds and is working out what normal is meant to feel like. She’s swapped serial killers, stakeouts and interrogation for a husband, friends and free time. But when you’ve walked in darkness for so long, can you stand the light?
When a local teenager dies in a tragic drowning accident, the community thinks Brigid might be able to help comfort the family. But when she does so, something doesn’t add up. And it’s no easier at home: after a bereavement in the family, Brigid has reluctantly taken in her niece to give her a break before she starts college. Brigid’s ever-patient husband Carlo tells her they must go easy on Gemma-Kate, the grieving youngster. Which is fine, until she starts taking an unhealthy interest in dissecting the local wildlife.
For Brigid, death still seems to be wherever she turns. But as she herself starts to feel unwell, it’s her own mortality that is the most troubling. And as she tries to get to the bottom of a series of allegedly accidental deaths and increasingly gruesome occurrences at home, she slowly realises that maybe this time, she’s let the darkness inside the only place she ever felt safe. Sometimes, death is closer than you think.
Remains of Innocence by J A Jance
Sheriff Joanna Brady must solve two perplexing cases that may be tied together in New York Times bestselling author J. A. Jance’s thrilling tale of suspense that brings to life Arizona’s Cochise County and the desert Southwest in all its beauty and mystery.
An old woman, a hoarder, is dying of emphysema in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. In cleaning out her house, her daughter, Liza Machett, discovers a fortune in hundred dollar bills hidden in the tall stacks of books and magazines that crowd every corner.
Tracing the money’s origins will take Liza on a journey that will end in Cochise County, where Sheriff Joanna Brady is embroiled in a personal mystery of her own. A man she considers a family friend is found dead at the bottom of a hole in a limestone cavern near Bisbee. And now there is the mystery of Liza and the money. Are the two disparate cases connected? It’s up to Joanna to find out.
Sin Walks into the Desert by Matt Ingwalson
Sin gets a late night call from la Calavera. She’s an ex-federal agent living on half a lung in a retirement home near the border. And she says el Viejo is missing.
This is el Viejo she’s talking about. Diabetes and arthritis may have the old man in a rocking chair now, but in his day he was the baddest of snipers and the bravest of private eyes. He also saved Sin’s life, back when the boy was a 12 year old punk hellbent on shooting up the school bus with his daddy’s .357.
So Sin heads off to find his mentor, only to find a nest of killers with ancient vendettas waiting for him in the desert with the kingsnakes and coyotes.
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
Plucky Taylor Greer grows up poor in rural Kentucky with two goals: to avoid pregnancy and to get away. She succeeds on both counts when she buys an old car and heads west. But midway across the country, motherhood catches up with her when she becomes guardian of an abandoned baby girl she calls Turtle. In Tucson they encounter an extraordinary array of people, and with their help Taylor builds herself an her sweet, stunned child a life.
The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea
This important and timely book from a Pulitzer Prize finalist follows the brutal journey a group of men take to cross the Mexican border. “The single most compelling, lucid, and lyrical contemporary account of the absurdity of U.S. border policy” —The Atlantic In May 2001, a group of men attempted to cross the Mexican border into the desert of southern Arizona, through the deadliest region of the continent, the “Devil’s Highway.” Three years later, Luis Alberto Urrea wrote about what happened to them. The result was a national bestseller, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, a “book of the year” in multiple newspapers, and a work proclaimed as a modern American classic.
The Killer is Dying by James Sallis
A hired killer on his final job, a burned out detective whose wife is dying slowly, a young boy abandoned by his parents and living alone by his wits. Three people, solitary and disconnected from society. The detective is looking for the killer, Christian, though he doesn’t know that. Christian is trying to find the man who stepped in and took down his target. And the boy, Jimmie, is having the killer’s dreams. While they never meet, they are inextricably linked – and as their stories unfold, all find the solace of community.
The Last of the Smoking Bartenders by C J Howell
The Last of the Smoking Bartenders follows a drifter traversing the Arizona desert, leaving behind a path of destruction. Tom believes he is a secret agent deep undercover racing to stop terrorists from blowing up the Hoover Dam. Forced to live off the grid, without paper money because of tracking devices in the watermarks, and aided by a homeless raft guide and a band of meth dealing Navajos, he hunts down a terrorist network one Molotov cocktail at a time. But is it all a delusion? Are they actually killing innocent people? Chased by a beautiful but damaged FBI agent and a crossbow wielding psychopath, Tom must stay one step ahead of his pursuers and save the country he loves, all on less than a dollar a day.
Once You Know by Madeleine Van Hecke
In the dry heat of her Arizona home, feisty, Irish-Catholic Colleen Moretti thrust the letter into the back of a drawer. Her plan: ignore the fault line until the tremors pass. But her husband’s betrayal is far worse than Colleen suspects.
In this complex story of a family unraveling, both Colleen and her college-age daughter Rachel struggle to maintain their balance amidst feelings of love and loss, anger and betrayal. A gifted cellist, Rachel escapes into her music and her campus life, including her burgeoning romance with her first real boyfriend. But her coming of age tale is fraught with complications from what’s happening in her family. In her desperation to sustain hope, Colleen turns a blind eye to Rachel’s struggles. Instead, she clutches to her faith that preaches forgiveness and to the tender memories that preserve her image of the man she has known her husband to be. Mixed in this soup is eight-year-old Izzy, whom both Colleen and Rachel try to protect from the fallout of this conflict.
With two daughters caught in the middle of a crumbling marriage, one who would love to see her father cut out of their lives and the other who would be crushed to lose him, Colleen is trapped in a no-win situation. Colleen finally realizes she can’t save her daughters, her marriage, and herself, so… who will she choose?
Enjoy our selection of great books set in Arizona!
Tony for the TripFiction team
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