A Bantam Paperback Original (Tres Navarre series #2)
Pub Date: May 1998
ISBN: 0-553-57645-3
An old friend recruits Tres Navarre to protect the career of a rising country music singer. With a million dollar record deal on the table, Miranda Daniels has everything to gain and everything to lose. Then her half-finished demo is stolen, her producer is shot at, and finally the agent who engineered her success disappears. While Tres struggles with his own career choices, he must extricate Miranda Daniels from a tangle of music industry power games and professional grudges. Tres soon finds himself on the wrong side of the local law, the Feds, and an unlikely coallition of European businessmen and local redneck barons who have enough at stake in the Texas music scene to warrant murder several times over.
"Terrific Texas color. Finding a killer in the country-and-western music industry is a tricky and funny business, the way Rick Riordan handles it."
"The wide-open Tex-Mex atmosphere is right on target, as is the backdrop of the Austin-San Antonio music scene, where wannabes train for Nashville. The characters are well-defined and original, the dialogue is tough and sharp, and narrator Tres' 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."
HOT BOOK RECOMMENDATION, JUNE 1998. "The tough-guy template gets a Tex-Mex twist."
"A fast-paced tale of greed and murder in the music business. Plenty of San Antonio scenery laced with local color that those who live here will appreciate and those who don't will absorb."
"Pure Texas and pure escape!"
"Rick Riordan is a fine storyteller -- a talented writer who tells his tale with a just-right blend of humor, action and heart. THE WIDOWER'S TWO-STEP is the real deal -- if it doesn't make a Tres Navarre fan out of you, check your pulse."
"Tres Navarre is a fine, funny, interesting character, who is now my favorite of all the new investigators running around out there. A great story that moves faster than a drunk falling down stairs."
"There's a new guy on the block, and he's a keeper. Tough and warm, and sexy, too -- Tres Navarre is the most engaging new P.I. in years. THE WIDOWER'S TWO-STEP is a can't-put-down, don't want-it-to-end book."
"THE WIDOWER'S TWO-STEP is a wonderful who-done-it, starring an interesting and fun to read about lead character. The support cast adds depth, humor, and reality to a story line that does not miss a beat and Texas has never looked any better. Readers will enjoy this terrific tale and its predecessor, BIG RED TEQUILA. Rick Riordan has the talent o take him to the top on the express lane."
"Reading Rick Riordan is like hearing a country song in the background and realizing with a start that the lyrics could be by James Wright. You want to yell at everyone to hush up and listen. Maybe buy them a beer. Several years ago Texas hosted the Outlaw movement, ushering in a revolution in style, content, and attitude that summarily re-energized country music. Riordan is the latest and one of the strongest in a group of new writers whose work is doing much the same for the mystery genre. I'm terribly excited about his first two novels. Hush up. Listen."
Tycoon Flats.
It doesn't get anymore San Antonian than Tycoon Flats. Stop by and check
out the menu of this N. St. Mary's Street institution. Milo and Tres meet
here to discuss Miranda Daniels' problems.
Century Music. Miranda Daniels buys all her guitar picks here. If you've read WIDOWER'S TWO-STEP, you may remember the fictionalize version of this great music store.
The University of Texas at San Antonio. Tres' potential employer in THE WIDOWER'S TWO-STEP. Stop by an check out the English department, where Tres interviews.
Robert Earl Keen's homepage. A real-life Texas singer who does a fictional set with Miranda Daniels. I've been following Robert Earl since he was just starting out singing burger joints in San Marcos, and he's one of the best Texas artists around. Check him out.
Austin City Limits. Cam Compton boasts that he once had an appearance on this famous country music television broadcast from KLRU Austin. Anybody who's anybody in Texas music has been here at one time or another.
Gruene Hall. Texas' oldest dancehall in the tiny town of Gruene, this place damn near sweats Texas ambience. Miranda Daniels got her start here, and her dad Willis still plays here some on Sundays.
Cactus Cafe. A great Austin venue where Tres first hears Miranda Daniels sing and has a little tete-a-tete with Cam Compton.
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