Big Red Tequila [Mass Market Paperback]

Rick Riordan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2, 1997

Everything in Texas is bigger...even murder.

Meet Tres Navarre...tequila drinker, Tai Chi master, unlicensed P.I., with a penchant for Texas-size trouble.

Jackson "Tres" Navarre and his enchilada-eating cat, Robert Johnson, pull into San Antonio and find nothing waiting but trouble. Ten years ago Navarre left town and the memory of his father's murder behind him. Now he's back, looking for answers. Yet the more Tres digs, trying to put his suspicions to rest, the fresher the decade-old crime looks: Mafia connections, construction site payoffs, and slick politicians' games all conspire to ruin his homecoming.

It's obvious Tres has stirred up a hornet's nest of trouble. He gets attacked, shot at, run over by a big blue Thunderbird—and his old girlfriend, the one he wants back, turns up missing. Tres has to rescue the woman, nail his father's murderer, and get the hell out of Dodge before mob-style Texas justice catches up to him. The chances of staying alive looked better for the defenders of the Alamo....

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Rick Riordan has loaded his first mystery with lots of genre baggage: this story about a man coming home to San Antonio, Texas, to rescue his old girlfriend and solve the 12-year-old murder of his sheriff father is a virtual homage to James (The Last Good Kiss) Crumley. But Riordan writes so well about the people and topography of his hometown that he very quickly marks the territory as his own. Tres Navarre has put behind him the teenage days when he and his friend Ralph Arguello would cruise through San Antonio, drinking a ferocious mixture of cheap tequila and Big Red cream soda. A University of California Ph.D. in English plus a fascination with t'ai chi ch'uan led Tres naturally enough to work as a private investigator in San Francisco. But one call from the love of his early life--the mysterious and captivating Lillian Cambridge, now trapped in dangerous work and love relationships--and Tres gladly trades his trendy Peet's coffee for the stronger brews of home.

From the Publisher

Winner of the 1998 Shamus Award for Best First Novel and the 1998 Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original!

"A standout...A crooked construction company, corrupt cops, old enemies--you can almost feel the summer storms rolling over South Texas."
---Publishers Weekly (starred review)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; Reissue edition (June 2, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553576445
• ISBN-13: 978-0553576443
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #128,903 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rick Riordan is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the Kane Chronicles, and the Heroes of Olympus. He is also the author of the multi-award-winning Tres Navarre mystery series for adults.

For fifteen years, Rick taught English and history at public and private middle schools in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Texas. In 2002, Saint Mary's Hall honored him with the school's first Master Teacher Award.

While teaching full time, Riordan began writing mystery novels for grownups. His Tres Navarre series went on to win the top three national awards in the mystery genre - the Edgar, the Anthony and the Shamus. Riordan turned to children's fiction when he started The Lightning Thief as a bedtime story for his oldest son.

Today over 30 million copies of his Percy Jackson, Kane Chronicles, and Heroes of Olympus books are in print in the United States, and rights have been sold into more than 35 countries. Rick is also the author of The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones, another #1 New York Times bestseller. In 2011, Rick received the Children's Choice Book Award for Author of the Year.

Rick Riordan now writes full-time. He lives in San Antonio with his wife and two sons.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Wonderful, Enjoyable, Entertaining, LOVED IT, August 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Big Red Tequila (Mass Market Paperback)

This was the first mystery book that wasn't just about a brutal murderer or sick person. This was a murder, that wasn't a serial killer, not the kind of thing that would give you nightmares. It was just a normal guy's life mixed in with the capture of his ex-girlfriend. I loved every word of the story, and Robert Johnson was an incredibly clever character! I recommend this book to anyone who has half a sense of humor and the need to read a cleverly put together story that feels like it's coming right from the person's mouth!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A rip-roarin' good time!, March 31, 2000

By 

KMS "consumer of books" (Austin, Texas USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Big Red Tequila (Mass Market Paperback)

Big Red Tequila is one of the funniest, smartest, slickest books I've read in a long time. Riordan does a fabulous job of imbuing his work with the sights, smells and sounds of San Antonio, and his characters seem incredibly real and multi-dimensional (even the bad guys!). The dialog crackles with wit and little details like the enchilada-eating cat and the half-brother with a passion for Jimmy Buffet's music just add to the entertainment. While the actual "mystery" in this book is perfectly adequate, to me it was almost secondary. I found the real fun was tagging along with Tres as he criss-crossed the city of San Antonio from La Villita to Monte Verde to the most exclusive neighborhoods with their gated entrances (which, of course, he always managed to talk his way into). I can't wait to read the rest of the series. Highly recommended!

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Trav McGee Reincarnated, January 20, 2003

By 

Robin Currier - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Big Red Tequila (Mass Market Paperback)

For those of you who love the John D. McDonald books starring Travis McGee, let me introduce you to Tres Navarre! The hero of Riordan's first book in the series, Tres reminds me of a young Trav McGee. He has a bit of dark edge to his character (he's lived a lot!), and his smart mouth gets him into trouble, but he's a decent, intelligent man who wants to find the truth and protect the innocent. In that way, he also reminds me of Dave Robichaux in the James Lee Burke Novels. Like McDonald and Burke, Riordan does a great job at presenting a particular culture and location, in this case San Antonio, Texas, and in developing very three-dimensional characters. I can highly recommend this book.

In this debut novel, Tres returns to San Antonio after having fled ten years previously after the murder of his father. He returns to wrestle with his past and to find the truth behind his father's death. In the process, he uncovers a conspiracy that involves families he's known all his life, forcing him to weigh love, loyalty, and compassion against the truth.