The Widower's Two-Step (Mass Market Paperback)

by Rick Riordan (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Tres Navarre has just hours of apprenticeship time to serve before he can go for his P.I. license. Staking out a musician suspected of stealing a demo tape should be a piece of "pan dulce". But his attention wanders just long enough for fiddle player Julie Kearnes to be gunned down before his eyes. He should just back away and let the cops investigate, but backing away has never been Tres's strong point.

From the Publisher
"Riordan writes so well about the people and topography of his Texas hometown that he quickly marks the territory as his own."
--Chicago Tribune

*"The characters are well-defined and original, the dialogue is tough and sharp, and narrator Tres's wry observations make him even more simpatico than the first time around. Riordan showed real talent in Big Red Tequila, but here, he's relaxed enough to make it look easy."
--Publishers Weekly, *starred review


See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (May 4, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553576453
• ISBN-13: 978-0553576450
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #19,777 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #2 in

  Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Authors, A-Z > ( R ) > Riordan, Rick

• This is item 2 in The Tres Navarre Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tres Navarre and his friends still have me hooked!, March 17, 2000

By	K. Barrett "katibar" (Valley Mills, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Immediately after finishing Big Red Tequila which I loved, I dived right into this continuing saga of Tres Navarre, his cat, his mom, his friends and his adversaries! Too much fun...I don't know much about the music business, but I do know about being an English major and teaching. Rick Riordan understands it, too. As he writes more and more about Tres Navarre, the reader gains even more understanding of this very self-sufficient but vulnerable character. Tres is all bound up in his past, but unafraid to face the present. He didn't have as much opportunity to use his tai che skills in this book...maybe the bad guys have heard about his prowess in the martial arts and just give him more space. It's fun to experience Tres as he interacts with friends from high school who have chosen questionable career paths--but they all seem to have particular talents that Tres can take advantage of as he works to solve whatever mystery has captured his attention. Everyone in this book has vulnerabilities so they are very believable characters. The plots twists and turns and keeps the reader wondering just how much more can happen. I loved this book. I can hardly wait for the Last King of Texas...it will be fun to see what happens to Tres and Robert Johnson, the cat. I know one thing--it will be thrilling and it will be fun!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Starts slow, speeds up, but can't quite equal the first book, October 19, 2001

By	Andrew S. Rogers (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In this second book in Rick Riordan's Tres Navarre series, PI-in-training Tres gets off to a bad start when the person he is tailing dies before his eyes (murder? suicide?). From there, our hero finds himself pulled into the worlds of drug dealing, family politics, and -- most deadly of all -- country music.

This title, like 'The Last King of Texas' (the third book in the series) starts off with a literal bang. But I found both 'Big Red Tequila' and 'Last King' easier stories to get into than this one was. Once the story starts moving, 'Widower's Two-Step' bears all the hallmarks of the Tres Navarre series: a plot that twists and turns, lots of characters (most with complex and hidden motivations), dramatic fights and confrontations, and truckloads of South Texas character. This book also introduces the Manos Detective Agency -- the employees of which have become regular characters in the Navarre series.

Devotees of the series will definitely want to read this title. I would recommend newcomers start with the first book ('Big Red Tequila') instead of dropping into the middle of the series, like I did. But even on its own merits, this interesting and atmospheric mystery is definitely worth a read or two.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Texas Two Step, July 1, 2000

By	John J. Raspanti (Manteca, Ca USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Widowers Two Step is everything you could want in a mystery. The hero, practicing P.I. ' Tres Navarre' is one funny guy, some of his encounters with various 'Texans' are laugh out funny. Using Texas as a backdrop, each page comes alive as Tres moves about the state investigating and getting into peoples hair.

The story Tres finds himself involved in concerns a missing demo, a demo so important that people are prepared to kill for it. The paces quickens as the missing demo leads to some more and more dire situations.

Author Rick Riordan's dialogue crackles, Tres's 'friends' are truely memorable, and his enemies uniquely sinister.

Tres is cut from the same cloth as Robert Crias 'Elvis Cole' and a long lost relative of Chandler's 'Phillip Marlow'. He's a hero with a heart of gold, a loner looking for something more.

Believe the hype this guy can write!

Highly Recommended