The Widower’s Two-Step

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 coalition of European businessmen and local redneck barons who have enough at stake in the Texas music scene to warrant murder several times over

A Bantam Book 0-553-57645-3 Adult

Rick Riordan is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the Kane Chronicles, the Heroes of Olympus, and Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard

About Rick Riordan

Notable Awards

1998 Edgar Award Winner - Best Paperback Original
Shamus Award Nominee – Best Original Paperback P.I. novel 1998
Anthony Award Nominee – Best Paperback Original 1998

Reviews

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. New York Times Book Review
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. Publisher's Weekly, Starred Review
HOT BOOK RECOMMENDATION, JUNE 1998. “The tough-guy template gets a Tex-Mex twist. Texas Monthly
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. San Antonio Express-News

More Reviews

Pure Texas and pure escape! The Purloined Letter

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. Jan Burke, author of HOCUS

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. Robert Crais, author of INDIGO SLAM

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. Linda Grant, author of VAMPIRE BYTES

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. Harriet Klausner, DorothyL Reviews

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. James Sallis, author of EYE OF THE CRICKET