DEATH OF THE LAST VILLISTA [Paperback]

Allana Martin (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur (2001)
• ASIN: B000OTHFT6
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great atmospheic mystey, August 1, 2001

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Death of the Last Villista: A Texana Jones Mystery (Texana Jones Mysteries) (Hardcover)

The border land adjacent to both sides of the Rio Grande has its own rhythm, culture, and language that sets it apart from the rest of both countries. Texanna Jones operates a trading post two miles west of Polo, a small hamlet of hundred and twenty-five people. She has lived there all her life and is part of the community that took part in the filming of Pancho, a movie about the 1917 raid of the Moore Ranch by Villa and his followers. To add authenticity to the film, the director hired former Villa follower Jacinto Trejo on as a consultant. Trejo was killed shortly before the movie ended.

Now an independent video producer is creating a PBS special celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the movie. The male lead in Pancho is a big hit in a TV sitcom, hence the PBS special. Texanna is leasing land to the moviemakers and the trading post is the center of operations. At the beginning of the production, the RV of the male lead blows up and nobody is sure whether it is an accident or arson. A young boy goes missing and Texanna finds out that her mother and Trejo were lovers before he was killed. Allana is unable to let past secrets stay buried and is determined, for her mother's sake, to find out who killed Trejo, but somebody wants past secrets to stay hidden.

DEATH OF THE LAST VILLISTA is much more than a mystery; it is a glimpse into a subculture that is a part of yet separate from the rest of the United States and Mexico. The characters give the novel atmosphere and a sense of what it is like living on the border. Allana Martin has created a novel that has depth yet remains very entertaining.

Harriet Klausner

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More character than Mystery, March 17, 2002

By 

James Collett (Midland, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Death of the Last Villista: A Texana Jones Mystery (Texana Jones Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I have enjoyed the Allana Martin series a great deal because I know the area she writes of so well (as obviously Publisher's "Weakly" does not--they have the wrong river. Texana lives on the Rio Grande, well over a hundred miles from any stretch of the Pecos River). I know the area well and Martin has captured it exquisitely. That, along with the development of her characters, both major and minor, makes the series worthwhile. Most of her mysteries don't necessarily hold the reader breathlessly enthralled. However, if one follows the series, the borderlands of Texas come alive.
In this story, for example, Texana Jones, the narrator, has to come to terms with her recluse father and the memory of her mother. The events of the present-day movie-making reveal an entire new picture of her parents. In many of our own lives, we suddenly stumble upon some fact or event which radically alters our view of our parents and the memories we hold of them. The greater mystery in this tale lies in the relationships of the past than the murders, either then or now. I found the crafted redrawing of histories, Texana's, her parents',Polvo's, and even that of the Villista quite entertaining and thought-provoking.
I recommend this book, especially if you have followed the series in order. Ms. Martin's tales collectively may be less mysterious than one might desire, but they do demystify one of the last frontiers.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Modest Murder Mystery, January 2, 2002

By 

Clint Hunter - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death of the Last Villista: A Texana Jones Mystery (Texana Jones Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Texana Jones runs a trading post in the arid desert town of Polvo along the Texas-Mexico border. When a Hollywood company returns to the area to film a sequel to a ten year old movie about Pancho Villa, old questions of a long unsolved murder arise. It is up to Texana and her husband Clay, the local vet, to sort out the details and solve the mystery.

This is a modest and somewhat passive mystery novel. The crime is ten years cold as the tale opens and the telling of the story never warms up beyond the heat of an autumn evening in Polvo. Not much happens to generate a passion for the story. We are treated to descriptions of Texana's daily luncheon menu, but there just isn't enough red herring to whet our appetite. The bland characters add little to the excitement, and we have little opportunity to relate to either the late lamented victim or the perpetrator of the dastardly deed.

On the other hand, Ms. Martin has a keen feel for the nuances of the people and customs of the story's locale and she does a fine job of transferring her sense of place to the reader. I was intrigued by the depth of detail she conveys in such an unintrusive way.

The three star rating I give this book indicates a novel which places somewhere below "excellent" and certainly above "a waste of your time." Indeed, it is the type of book which just about fits the bill for a quick summer read or a curl up by the fireplace winter diversion.