From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series Everything in Texas is bigger . . . even murder. Meet Tres Navarre—tequila drinker, Tai Chi master, and unlicensed P.I., with a penchant for Texas-size trouble.Jackson “Tres” Navarre and his enchilada-eating cat, Robert Johnson, pull into San Antonio and find nothing waiting but trouble. Ten years ago … and find nothing waiting but trouble. Ten years ago Navarre left town and the memory of his father’s murder behind him. Now he’s back, looking for answers. Yet the more Tres digs, trying to put his suspicions to rest, the fresher the decade-old crime looks: Mafia connections, construction site payoffs, and slick politicians’ games all conspire to ruin his homecoming. It’s obvious Tres has stirred up a hornet’s nest of trouble. He gets attacked, shot at, run over by a big blue Thunderbird—and his old girlfriend, the one he wants back, is missing. Tres has to rescue the woman, nail his father’s murderer, and get the hell out of Dodge before mob-style Texas justice catches up to him. The chances of staying alive looked better for the defenders of the Alamo.
“Riordan writes so well about the people and topography of his Texas hometown that he quickly marks the territory as his own.”—Chicago Tribune
Don’t miss any of these hotter-than-Texas-chili Tres Navarre novels:
BIG RED TEQUILA • THE WIDOWER’S TWO-STEP • THE LAST KING OF TEXAS • THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO AUSTIN • SOUTHTOWN • MISSION ROAD • REBEL ISLAND
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A fun mystery read. Witty narration. San Antonio comes to life. An enjoyable mystery romp.
Just finished this mystery by Rick Riordan, better known for his young adult Percy Jackson books. This book (the first of 7.in the series) is definitely not for young adults. But I found it to be full of interesting, complex characters and gritty action along with a. compelling plot. I plan to read more. It does contain explicit language and violence
Not so great. It became somewhat tedious, and more difficult to complete than most. Somewhat colorful hero (maybe anti-hero) but not quite as likeable as the author intended.
I enjoyed the book as I am originally from San Antonio and it made me very nostalgic, but it also made me remember why I left in the first place. As with any larger city, there is a very high crime rate and a lot of the law enforcement folks don’t always operate under the “serve and protect” credo. My only real beef with the book was the number of characters involved in everything. At times I had such trouble keeping everyone straight, that I found myself rereading chapters to figure who was whom and why they were relevant to the story. Other than that, I enjoyed the main character, Tres Navarre, and all of his baggage, very much. To be fair, I think I need to read the second book in the series just to make sure I’m no judging things too harshly. 🙂
The extensive cast of characters kept me scanning back to bring me up to snuff, but, it was a fun ride the whole way.
Riordan has created one of the all-time best reluctant damaged sexy PI’s in Tres Navarre. This is a stand alone book one in a series of 8 (of which, the latter are better read in order). I loved the snarky thrilling sauciness of this book so much I bought the series. It is one of my all time favorites. Tres is a brilliant university teacher on the rise on the west coast and a San Antonio TX homey; two sides of the same conflicted coin. Returning from the west coast to wallow in his roots after a breakup, he takes a job as a PI trainee. All south Texas hot heck breaks loose. This is a book and series for adults and not to be confused in any way with Riordan’s teen writing of Percy Jackson. To Rick Riordan: more Tres please?
Not the type of book I usually read but it was ok
Interesting character, leaves you wanting to know him better.
Loved it.Love all his books. He is from my hometown and love he uses locations l am familiar with.Never get more pleasure than locations popping up every few pages!
Written with a bit of Southern humor.
Rick Riordan’s first novels were a mystery series following Tres Navarre, a former teacher turned private eye based in San Antonio. This was the first of them and he had me hooked from the start. Riordan’s talent was undeniable.
If you think of Rick Riordan as just the guy who writes the Percy Jackson books, think again. He also writes books based on Norse gods! And the Tres Navarre mystery series, which begins with Big Red Tequila. Riordan has clearly read in the genre and has a great ear for the kind of dialogue you would expect in a detective novel. Navarre is a different enough character to make him interesting, and the you-can’t-go-home-again theme is well done.