Tres Navarre

Edgar Award winner Rick Riordan captures San Antonio at its grittiest with his mysteries featuring Jackson "Tres" Navarre--unlicensed P.I., Tai Chi master, and imbiber of Big Red cream soda laced with tequila. It's been a decade since his father was murdered, and Tres left town. But he's got an itch that can only be scratched by looking for answers. Returning to San Antonio with his enchilada-eating cat, he uncovers a conspiracy involving the Mafia and dirty politicians. It isn't long before Tres stirs up more trouble than he can handle and finds himself the target of ill-willed bullets. Riordan paints a memorable portrait of Texas in its many unique hues, while narrator Tom Stechschulte captures the characteristic flavor of the Lone Star state.

Rick Riordan's first book in the Tres Navarre series, Big Red Tequila (S1004) hit the mystery market like a Texas tornado. Readers couldn't get enough of its hero's offbeat combination of academic degrees, tai chi skills, and nose for danger. When the second adventure, Widower's Two-Step, was published, it quickly earned an Edgar Award. Instead of accepting a teaching position at the university, Tres is finishing up his apprenticeship for a private investigator's license. He's doing a poor job of surveillance on the fiddle player in a promising honky-tonk band: she is shot in broad daylight while he watches. Shaken, Tres begins an investigation on his own. It's not long before he discovers that some people will do anything to capture a lucrative recording contract. With suspense as sizzling as the southwestern sun, and a truly colorful cast of characters, The Widower's Two-Step is a hit with mystery lovers well beyond the Lone Star State. Narrator Tom Stechschulte's performance adds just the right spice to Tres' character.

The adventures of Tres Navarre, P.I. and Ph.D., continue to attract fans who love their spicy humor and suspense. When two English professors are killed in quick succession at the University of Texas at San Antonio, Tres is asked to finish teaching the semester's literature classes. All he has to do is keep his investigation of the murders quiet-and stay alive long enough to grade the final essays.

Tres has taken a short-term teaching job at the University of Texas at Austin. He is living with his brother Garrett, a computer wizard, and enjoying this easy assignment. But when Garrett's business partner is murdered, Tres must switch from professor to detective. Rick Riordan, teacher, Texan, and multiple award-winner, creates a masterful mixture of local color and mystery in each Tres Navarre mystery.

Edgar, Shamus, and Anthony Award winner Rick Riordan is a master of Texas crime writing. In Southtown, maniacal convict Will Stirman escapes from the state penitentiary. With his gang of murderous thugs, Stirman pursues Erainya, the boss of college professor turned P.I. Tres Navarre. Erainya's husband Fred helped put Stirman behind bars, and although Fred is dead, Stirman wants his revenge. Now only Tres can stop him.

Having scored the big three of mystery's most-sought after awards-the Edgar, Anthony and Shamus-Rick Riordan writes with a blazing talent that matches the heat of his novels' Texas settings. Wisecracking PI Tres Navarre receives an unexpected visit from old friend Ralph Arguello. But Ralph, a seemingly reformed criminal, isn't there to shoot the breeze. His wife, Ana, a San Antonio police detective, has been gunned down-casting suspicion on Ralph because Ana had been looking into Ralph's involvement in a Mafia-related murder.

From award-winning author Rick Riordan comes a dark and thrilling Tres Navarre mystery. Newly married and about to be a father, Tres gives up the dangerous life of a private detective. But while honeymooning on Rebel Island, he discovers a dead body that triggers memories of his own shady past.