Big Red Tequila

A Tres Navarre Mystery, Book 1

By: Rick Riordan

Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte

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.

Crack another case with Tres Navarre.©1997 Rick Riordan (P)2001 Recorded Books, LLC

call it 3.5 or 3.7

I like the narrator's voice and cadence, like the style of writing, but like the first I read in this series, I keep forgetting who the characters are, other than the main character. Overall better than average, but not 4 stars

Too Much Tequila

This is a book mostly for GUYS. Constant over indulgence in booze, fights, and one negative situation after another soon gets boring. The saving grace of the book is the writing. Riordan paints great word scenes and funny quirky descriptions of his cat, Robert Johnson, and the other characters.
If Riordan had not been such an interesting writer, I wouldn't have finished the story.

different but good

different kind of crime story I normally listen to nothing wrong with different which made it unique to me different then the normal writing style found in most books didn't think it took any away from the whole story

Too many characters

What did you like best about Big Red Tequila? What did you like least?

Since I am from San Antonio, I could visualize the places described in the book. There were too many characters and much of the book was spend developing them. This took away from the actual story line.

I think I would have liked a shorter version

Decent story, good characters and pretty good narration. It's not much of a mystery, just a procedural investigation by an inexperienced detective. The characters were pretty well developed and a nice mix of good guys and bad guys. I did get really sick of the accent for Ralph and constantly saying pendejo. Overall I liked this book and will recommend it, however for me personally I think it is unnecessarily long.

My birthtown was mentioned.

Contemporary noir set in San Antonio and environs. Food and drink reflects San Antonio's diverse culture.

I hear the series improves...

...but I had to listen to this first. I was looking for something a bit grittier than my normal read, and I wanted something funny. This was supposed to fit the bill. It was okay. There were a lot of people to keep track of, and I didn't really care about either mystery and how they got solved. And Riordan describes every move in the fights, which is pretty boring. However, I did sort of like Tres and his mom and there are parts of the story that tell you this author is a great storyteller. So I'm going to let this simmer for awhile before deciding if I'm going to move on to the next one in the series.

learn how to pronounce words of the area

As a longtime resident of the San Antonio area, I found it very difficult to listen to this. I found myself correcting his pronunciation. It was a good story though.

What fun!

The narrator made this story come to life. From the enchilada eating cat to the pawn shop impresario, the story just sucked me in. I will listen to the next in the series and hope it is as much fun as this first entry.

A pretty good listen

My first book of Rick Riordan, and I already bought the second book in the series. I’m not a great literary critic, but I enjoyed this book a lot, and the narration was excellent. I’ve got a business trip up to Jackson Hole tomorrow and I’m looking forward to another very good listen.