Pariah (Kurt Muller Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Thomas Zigal (Author)

Book Description

Series: Kurt Muller Mysteries | Publication Date: September 7, 1999

On the eve of his recall vote, Aspen Sheriff Kurt Muller is summoned to the home of an old acquaintance, the beautiful, reclusive heiress Nicole Bauer. Someone, she says, is sending her hate mail and threatening to kill her. She's convinced it's her old lover, the 60s blues idol Rocky Rhodes, but Kurt is wary, for good reason: Twenty years earlier, Rocky's body was found on the grounds of Nicole's mansion, and Nicole herself was charged with his murder.

But Kurt's doubts are shaken when Nicole is found dead the next morning, only hours after he left her. Against his deputy's advice, he pursues his own investigation, which leads him back to the decadent counterculture of the 70s, and reveals the shaded pasts of his contemporaries--the doctors, lawyers, land barons, and aspiring politicians of Aspen's social elite. Kurt soon uncovers a host of high-placed suspects, each with deeply buried secrets that Nicole alone had the power to expose. Frustrated at every turn, he realizes that the truth may lie with an elusive former groupie nicknamed Pariah, a witness to Rocky's death, and Kurt's last hope in solving the mystery of Nicole's final hours.

Dark, evocative, and suspenseful, Pariah puts Zigal's rich cast of ex-hippies, Aspen jet-setters, and militant activists face-to-face with the broken ideals of the past, in a tightly woven, electric thriller set against the sweeping background of the Rocky Mountains.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Aspen, Colo., sheriff Kurt Muller (Hardrock Stiff) becomes personally involved in a murder case in this crisply methodical outing. While attending a charity auction in order to polish his reputation in the face of a recall vote that could yank him from office, the impulsive Kurt is lured away to spend a sensual night with his former lover, reclusive heiress Nicole Bauer. Beautiful and lonely, Nicole is notorious for beating a homicide rap more than 20 years earlier, after legendary rock star Rocky Rhodes plunged to his death from her balcony. But now Nicole tells Kurt that she has been receiving threatening letters from someone she believes to be Rocky. Kurt leaves Nicole's house in the middle of the night; the next morning, she is found dead below her houseAjust like Rocky was. Kurt, suspecting murder, launches an intense investigation reaching back to the 1970s, when he, like Rocky's gang, eagerly partook of sex, drugs and rock and roll. As more members of the singer's former entourage are murdered, the sheriff probes deeper into their history and discovers surprising connections between them and Aspen's moneyed upper class. Such information is dangerous, and Kurt's reckless, confrontational personality soon imperils his lifeAand that all-important election. Zigal's twisting plot loops around a cadre of intriguing villains. Against the background of Aspen's natural beauty, he creates a chilling tale, though one leavened with wry humor. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

When an old flame approaches Aspen Sheriff Kurt Muller about some threatening letters, he senses her fearful insecurityAnot to mention her proximity to a potentially lethal combination of drugs, alcohol, and an overhanging balcony. Acquitted of killing her abusive blues-star husband years earlier, Nicole Bauer now believes that the "dead" husband has returned for revenge. Sure enough, Nicole dies soon after "talking" with Kurt, who immediately becomes the center of conjectureAand the object of a murderer's interest. This third Kurt Muller mystery is a riveting story of passion, horror, and misguided allegiance.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press (September 7, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385319304
• ISBN-13: 978-0385319300
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,558,489 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Thomas Zigal (1948) was born in Galveston, Texas, and grew up in nearby Texas City. He received a B.A. in English from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. in Creative Writing from Stanford. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Kurt Muller mystery series set in Aspen, Colorado, and a thriller entitled The White League set in New Orleans. He has published short stories and book reviews in literary magazines and fiction anthologies for the past 30 years. Zigal lives in Austin, Texas.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a gret read in a dynamite mystery series, September 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Pariah (Kurt Muller Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Politically ambitious Ben Smerlas heats up his campaign to remove Kurt Muller from being Aspen's sheriff because he knows that this is a perfect stepping stone to a House seat. A desperate Kurt Muller agrees to do almost anything to abort the politically motivated voter recall. Knowing how close the vote is and encouraged by his attorney, Kurt attends a charity benefit in which society's ladies are bidding on a date with him. Wealthy recluse Nicole Bauer bids ten thousand dollars to gain the evening with Kurt.

Nicole informs Kurt that she is the recipient of death threats that she insists comes from former rock star Rocky Rhodes, who died two decades ago. Nicole was the prime suspect in Rocky's death, but she beat the rap. The next day, Nicole is lying dead at the bottom of the nearby cliff eerily as Rocky did twenty years ago.. In spite of the negative publicity associated with Nicole, Kurt begins to investigate her death. He soon finds a link between Rocky,s band and many of the elite of Aspen. However, his new-found knowledge places more than a job in jeopardy as an unknown assailant wants to add the sheriff to the death list.

PARIAH is a very entertaining police procedural that will leave readers feeling a Rocky Mountain high. The story line intermingles Kurt,s personal problems with a well-designed investigation that requires the sheriff to work it. A sprinkling of jocularity makes the characters seem more human even as it eases the growing tension. The myriad of suspects all contains viable motives and means as the plot twists and turns with every new discovery. With novels like this one, Thomas Zigel will gain many zealous fans.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A page-turner from start to finish!, January 31, 2001

By 

B. Coe (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pariah: A Kurt Muller Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

Tom Zigal has written real joy ride of a mystery novel with Pariah (the third installment in the Kurt Muller series). He has crafted a tightly woven story that includes aging hippies, rock groupies turned yuppies, greedy developers, burned-out rock n' rollers, conniving politicians, ghosts of rock stars past, New Age Buddhists and Aspen social climbers in a plot that has more twists than the mountain roads that he describes. Zigal has a real feel for Aspen and the surrounding country. This book is a lot of fun to read

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great addition to A new series, September 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Pariah (Kurt Muller Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Politically ambitious Ben Smerlas heats up his campaign to remove Kurt Muller from being Aspen's sheriff because he knows that this is a perfect stepping stone to a House seat. A desperate Kurt Muller agrees to do almost anything to abort the politically motivated voter recall. Knowing how close the vote is and encouraged by his attorney, Kurt attends a charity benefit in which society's ladies are bidding on a date with him. Wealthy recluse Nicole Bauer bids ten thousand dollars to gain the evening with Kurt.

Nicole informs Kurt that she is the recipient of death threats that she insists comes from former rock star Rocky Rhodes, who died two decades ago. Nicole was the prime suspect in Rocky's death, but she beat the rap. The next day, Nicole is lying dead at the bottom of the nearby cliff eerily as Rocky did twenty years ago.. In spite of the negative publicity associated with Nicole, Kurt begins to investigate her death. He soon finds a link between Rocky,s band and many of the elite of Aspen. However, his new-found knowledge places more than a job in jeopardy as an unknown assailant wants to add the sheriff to the death list.

PARIAH is a very entertaining police procedural that will leave readers feeling a Rocky Mountain high. The story line intermingles Kurt,s personal problems with a well-designed investigation that requires the sheriff to work it. A sprinkling of jocularity makes the characters seem more human even as it eases the growing tension. The myriad of suspects all contains viable motives and means as the plot twists and turns with every new discovery. With novels like this one, Thomas Zigel will gain many zealous fans.

Harriet Klausner