The Devil Riding [Hardcover]

Valerie Wilson Wesley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2000

Tamara Hayle goes undercover in the casinos of Atlantic City to track a runaway teen in this gripping new mystery.

Hailed as one of the best ethnic and female sleuthing mystery series, Valerie Wilson Wesley's Tamara Hayle novels are consistent standouts. "She keeps peeling back layers and layers with a skill and determination that recall Ross MacDonald," says Kirkus Reviews. Now, in her sixth Hayle mystery, Wesley mines the intersection of African-American rich and poor caught in the crossroads of Atlantic City.

Darnella Desmond, stepdaughter to wealthy Foster Desmond, leaves her plush home for the wilds of Atlantic City, eschewing all contact with her family. When Darnella's last-known roommate is murdered, apparently by a serial killer stalking Atlantic City's vulnerable runaway population, Darnella's mother hires Tamara Hayle to track her daughter down.

As her investigation brings her closer to Darnella, Tamara discovers that at the heart of the young woman's disappearance lie two generations' worth of familial perversity--and a legacy of betrayal that threatens to undo the Desmond family.

Rich in the vices and delights of Atlantic City, freighted with characters whose passions too often lead to murder, The Devil Riding finds Valerie Wilson Wesley at her tempting best.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Tamara Hayle is one of the genre's most interesting PIs, a hard-working single mother with a no-nonsense approach to her work and a soft spot for kids. In The Devil Riding, the sixth outing for her series' heroine, Valerie Wilson Wesley turns in what may be her breakout book.

Tamara is working undercover in Atlantic City, looking for a missing teenager whose wealthy parents seem to have ambivalent feelings about finding her, and as Tamara gets closer to the action and more pretty young girls keep turning up dead, she begins to understand why. Gabriella Desmond is the stepdaughter of a wealthy businessman who's something of a hero in the African American community, and there are a few skeletons in the Desmond background he doesn't want exposed, regardless of his wife's concerns about Gabriella. And Gabriella's real father is a right-wing firebrand whose anti-abortion politics are as central to the plot as the Desmond family secrets. Amid the gaudy glitter of the casinos, Tamara befriends a scared girl who may know what happened to Gabriella, and she snags a lead to the other killings that are clearly tied into Gabriella's disappearance. She also runs into Basil Dupre, who she last saw lying in a pool of blood on a balcony in Jamaica. This fascinating, sexy, strong-willed man has the ability to bring Tamara's passion to life unlike anyone else. He may not be someone a girl can count on for the long haul, but before this well-written story is finished, you'll understand why he's worth it. If The Devil Riding is your first encounter with Tamara Hayle, you'll soon be searching for Wesley's backlist, starting with When Death Comes Stealing. --Jane Adams

From Publishers Weekly

What looks like a simple case--tracing a teenage runaway--has PI Tamara Hayle not only frustrated but ultimately terrified in her sixth outing (after Easier to Kill) in this strong ethnic series. Dominique Desmond, second wife to the scion of one of New Jersey's wealthiest black families, asks Tamara to find her rebellious daughter, Gabriella, who was last seen in Atlantic City. Despite the curious hostility of Dominique's high-profile husband and his son, Tamara decides to take the case, driven by both her need for the lucrative fee and her desire to stop a serial killer preying on runaways in the Jersey coastal resort. Although confident that her ethnic identity will help her form ties within the city's black community, she is sadly mistaken. While she can be shamelessly flirtatious (masquerading as a bartender), profoundly pious (trying to glean information from Dominique) or even egregiously untruthful (practically all the time), Tamara discovers little. Yet she does find that the city's crime lord, the sinister Delmundo R?al, had ties to all the young murder victims, and that he now has his malevolent eyes on her. And the members of the Desmond family, who abruptly dismiss her from the case, are definitely hiding secrets of their own. While the novel may be philosophically trite ("We all have good and bad within us"), Tamara's hard-hearted relentlessness, a stellar cast of peripheral characters and a gripping plot add up to fine reading. Agent, Faith H. Childs. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult; 1ST edition (June 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399146172
• ISBN-13: 978-0399146176
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #932,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Devil Riding, June 6, 2000

By 

"danni972" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Devil Riding (Hardcover)

I was very pleased with this book. I thought that Tamara Hayle was about to retire after the last case, but I was wrong. This book kept me guessing until the end. And I love the way Basil just appears in her life. If you are looking for a good mystery, this is it. I read it in less then 24 hours.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mind-boggling and fast paced reading experience, June 2, 2000

By 

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

This review is from: The Devil Riding (Hardcover)

Tamara Hayes is a beautiful African-American woman, raising a son by herself. She earns a living as a private detective, traveling to wherever the job requires her to go. This time she is in Atlantic City looking for a teenage runaway belonging to an influential family. As she searches for the eighteen-year old, Tamara wonders why four months passed before someone hired anyone. Tamara is shocked to learn that she has been employed only because someone brutally murdered Gabrielle Desmond's roommate and six other runaways.

Tamara goes undercover at a coveted party hosted by a person who preys on the depravations of others. He provides victims to his clients to use as they see fit. Tamara is stunned to find her sometimes lover, mercenary Basil DuPre, attending the same party. Basil thinks Tamara is in over her head with this case. However, the tough Tamara intends to see the case through to its' completion although it means running over her clients, her lover, and a monster that devours innocents.

In THE DEVIL RIDING, highly acclaimed author Valerie Wilson Wesley brings the ambiance and decadence of Atlantic City into the forefront. Although a mystery, the literary prose gives the tale a mainstream feel. Tamara never seems to accept an easy case, but this one appears even more difficult than usual because several different crimes muddy the water. Ms. Wesley never writes a poor novel, but this one is extraordinary as she describes the middle class African-American experience inside a well-designed detective story.

Harriet Klausner

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dirt Behind the Glitter, August 30, 2000

By 

Lev Raphael - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Devil Riding (Hardcover)

Wesley's new book is set in the ersatz glitter of Atlantic City but deprivation and cruelty aren't far away. While people are dropping quarters into slot machines and high rollers are luxuriating in lavish suites, runaway kids are trying to make a home for themselves in the shadow of all that greed.

Tamara Hayle's looking for a rich runaway here, and her empathy for kids is in full play. She's not your typical crusty PI, but she is hard-working and despite the dangers, you see her job as just that: work that puts bread on the table.

She's appealing; the villain's well worth hissing at; the romantic interest is Billy Dee Williams-hot--but the author's best creations are the kids, whether rich or poor, who've been treated so badly. All that and a fast-moving story make for a fine read, though the writing needed a firmer editorial hand.