Customer Reviews

Death on the River Walk

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Carolyn Hart has delivered another fun addition to her Henrie O series. Ms. Hart has developed a wonderful character in her protagonist. There is something warm and inviting with Henrie O, kind of like a grandmother. The author has also developed her to be smart, brave and very observant. This makes for a very enjoyable series. Unlike Ms. Hart's Death of Demand series, this one is a bit more on the serious side, but not so much so that there is not funny moments. Also, Henrie gets to travel around to different locations. With this Ms. Hart adds the pleasure of regional interest into the story. This book is located in San Antonio, so the reader get all kinds of interesting facts about that great city and it's culture. Believe it or not, San Antonio has more going for it than the Alamo! Add all this together with Ms. Hart's good solid writing and the reader can be guaranteed a good and fun mystery. I would recommend any of Carolyn Hart's books to any one who enjoys a good mystery.

Carolyn Hart's "Death on the River Walk" is a thoroughly absorbing mystery offering tantalizing glimpses of San Antonio's River Walk. Among Ms. Hart's many strengths as a writer is the ability to make her readers part of the scene. One sees "sunlight striking through shifting cottonwood leaves, making filagree patterns on ... stone walks", one feels "soft, moist night air", and taste buds go into overdrive when she describes scrumptious dishes such as nachos with shrimp and black beans, or chalupas topped with a meat-and corn mixture ... Henrie O, a refreshingly mature heroine with a refreshingly contemporary outlook, is asked to look into the disppearance of her best friend's granddaughter. The trail leads her to Tesoros (Treasures), a River Walk gallery dealing primarily in Mexican art and antiquities. Ms. Hart shines in her knowledge and description of pieces such as pulque pitchers, Tlaquepaque style glazed pottery, Talavera tiles and Oaxacan carved, wooden animals. The Garza family, who has owned and run Tesoros for forty years, has an unassailable reputation in the art world. Why, then, are there hints of discord among its members? Is there a connection with the family to the theft of gold antiquities stolen from Mexico City's National Museum of Anthropology? "Death on the River Walk" is tightly plotted, beautifully written, and a credit to this award winning author.

The best thing about the mystery is the setting, the San Antonio riverwalk and environs, the descriptions of the Mexican artwork available in the shops there. The plot is a little unbelievable ... the hunters of antiquities and the art collectors are compared to the Spanish conquistadors...

I loved the other Henrie O mysteries, and looked forward to this one. I'm irked. It doesn't even merit shelf space in my home--I'll donate it to the local library. There is no action to speak of for the first 100 pages. Instead we are subjected to incredibly tedious discussions of how a store functions. I think Hart describes every piece of art in the entire inventory by the time she reaches her conclusion. The initial mystery of whether a certain person has or has not disappeared seemed contrived and left me unmoved. Plus, it seemed implausible that the store proprietors would allow Henrie O to be constantly and everywhere underfoot while they were preparing for their biggest sale day of the year. Worse, the Garza family never came to life for me: I had difficulty remembering which person had been assigned which characteristics. Only two characters in the whole book had distinct and memorable personalities. From Dead Man's Island to this?

Henrie O receives a frantic transatlantic call from her dear friend who cannot contact her granddaughter Iris in San Antonio. Henrie is visiting her daughter in Texas and agrees to drive to San Antonio to try to find the missing girl. When she does, she becomes acquainted with the Garza family who owns the store where Iris has been working. She is convinced that someone in the family is connected with the disappearance. Soon there is a murder and a theft to add to the intrigue. Henrie O does some behind-the-scenes investigating in order to piece the puzzle together. The setting of the River Walk is a brilliant one and Hart's descriptions of San Antonio are vibrant and very accurate. There are a few unlikely scenarios, such as a thief letting Henrie O take a very valuable valise full of goods, and the way Henrie O decides to trap the murderer in the end, but this still remains a good read for Hart fans.

Henrie O is making an unexpected trip to San Antonio. A dear friend has called because her granddaughter is missing. Henrie is hoping that it is simply a case of Iris being self-absorbed and forgetting to call her grandmother. But when she arrives, she discovers that someone has search Iris' apartment.

With the seeds of worry having been sown, Henrie heads to the Tesoros Gallery, a family run art gallery on the River Walk. Iris had been working there part time while she went to college. While no one will admit knowing where she is, everyone seems to be hiding something. Where is Iris? Is her disappearance connected to Tesoros?

Having been disappointed with the last entry in this series, I was a little hesitant when I picked this one up. I was quickly pulled into the story, wanting to keep reading to find out if Iris was okay or not. But after the first few chapters, the pace really slowed down. Suddenly, I found myself wading through excessive description to get back to the action. This was really bad during the climax when we are given a paragraph on what a character looks like including her clothes. It interrupts a rather tense sense and really frustrated me.

There are a few characters who only show up once or twice who are well developed. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the suspect characters. They tended to blend together and I never could remember who was whom.

There were really no clues to lead Henrie to a climax. When the culprit is revealed, there is no sense that it was a logical choice. It just as logically could have been any of the other suspects.

Despite the flaws, I was hooked on the story enough to give it three stars. I know the author can do better, and I hope the next book represents that fact.

Death on the Riverwalk is my favorite installment of the Henrie O series by Carolyn Hart so far. I loved the setting of the River Walk and the backdrop of the Mexican Art World. Although I was able to take a correct guess at the murderer about 3/4 through, the story remained a page turner until the very end.

I, once again, enjoyed Carolyn Hart's ability to immerse her reader into the culture and atmosphere of her mystery setting. The descriptions made me want to visit San Antonio and explore the art indigenous to that region. The mystery swept along at a pleasing pace with a surprise twist at the end. Excellent.

Iris Chavez has been missing for a few days when her grandmother Gina Wilson, asked the fifty-something sleuth Henrie O to investigate. Gina and Henrie have been friends forever and the sleuth has known Iris since she was a little girl. Gina explains that Iris always communicated either by phone or E-mail, but has not been heard from in a few days. Henrie heads to San Antonio where Iris works at a Garza family gallery renowned for their Mexican art collection. The amateur detective quickly learns that Iris abruptly fled from the gallery for no immediately apparent reason.

Henrie meets with members of the powerful Garza clan, headed by Maria Elena, who reluctantly encourages the sleuth to look into Iris' relationship with Rick Garza, who ultimately takes her to the missing individual. However, Henrie concludes that someone or something is terrorizing both of them. They know something, but refuse to divulge it, preferring to remain in hiding. Whatever the duo conceals, Henrie soon finds herself the target of the unidentified culprit(s).

DEATH ON THE RIVER WALK is a vintage Henrie O mystery. The story line is entertaining, filled with heart, but no brain teaser. Instead, the novel, like the four previous books in this series, builds its charm around the characters. Particularly interesting is the compassionate but pragmatic Henrie O. The secondary cast, especially the villains, and the intriguing glimpses into the Central American-Southwest art world add depth to a warm, sassy tale. Anyone who relishes a pleasurable reading experience should try multi-award winning Carolyn Hart's "Henrie O" and "Death on Demand" series.

Harriet Klausner

This book is a complete waste of time....I agree with one of the reviewers that it does not even merit space on my bookshelves! Save your time and money.