Betty Webb is one of a number of successors to authors such as Sue Grafton, Marcia Muller, Sara Paretsky and Liza Cody and their female private eye series.
Desert Noir, the first in the series, had themes related to development of Arizona such as the destruction of the environment and of cultural heritage by developers; issues of Native American rights and cultural displacement; corruption and greed in the art world; the effects of tourism, etc.
One reviewer commented that the content of "Desert Wives," about ‘wholesale enslavement of women and rampant swindling of the state welfare system’ was ‘eye popping’ and if written as investigative journalism would be a contender for the Pulitzer Prize.
[3] Betty Webb has also begun a series of ‘cozies’ (consciously lightweight, humorous mysteries) about a California zookeeper who solves crimes.
She is retired from full-time work as a journalist on a Phoenix newspaper, and now reviews for Mystery Scene Magazine and teaches creative writing.