Customer Reviews

Just Enough Light to Kill (A Fiddler and Fiora Mystery)

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The husband-wife team calling itself A. E. Maxwell (Ann and Evan Maxwell) has produced not only two of the most memorable characters in the general area of "hard-boiled private eye" mystery fiction, but also sufficient action and colorful loacles to please virtually any "hard-boiled" fan.

While Fiddler is as tough and streetwise as any addict of private eye fiction might wish, his former wife (and still best friend and lover) Fiona certainly has enough strength, brains-and-ability and mysterious "talent" of her own (not to mention, of course, the requisite exotic beauty!) to provide an intriguing balance.

As this excellent series unfolds, for example, readers learn more about Fiddler's own very human (and colorful) past, including sharing with him both the memories and "inheritances" left him by his smuggler uncle. By turns sensitive-and-understanding but also brutally direct-and-violent, Fiddler fills his "formula" gumshoes just fine, thank you, with sufficient surprises and differences to keep readers intrigued.

The same is true of Fiona. Her hot temper and even hotter capacity of love (always bordering on eroticism!) -- plus her high (and also high tech) intelligence and business acumen (often bordering on ruthlessness!) -- join with hints of her Celtic mysticism and romantic past to create a female character every bit as challenging and involving as the male. No mere "sidekick" this (sometimes) femme fatale!

If there is any criticism to be leveled at this series (and it certainly wouldn't be concerning its colorful settings, ranging from the "good life" of the well-heeled California Gold Coast to Napa Valley and Santa Fe), it could only be that most of the novels are now out-of-print -- and that no more seem to be forthcoming.

For shame, "A. E."!

Anyone who likes Ann Maxwell will enjoy these books she has written with her husband Evan. They are interesting, and very well done. I have read the whole series, and have been hoping they would give us another story about these interesting detectives. The stories can be read singly, but it is great if you can read them in sequence, since references are sometimes made to previous events.