The Widower's Two-Step

Tres Navarre #2

by Rick Riordan

Tres Navarre has just hours of apprenticeship time to serve before he can go for his P.I. license. Staking out a musician suspected of stealing a demo tape should be a piece of pan dulce. But his attention wanders just long enough for fiddle player Julie Kearnes to be gunned down before his eyes. He should just back away and let the cops investigate, but backing away has never been Tres's strong point.

The missing demo and Julie's murder are just two of the problems besetting Miranda Daniels, a pint-sized singer with Texas-sized talent. She's the prize in a tug-of-war between two music hotshots who want to manage her career. One has a habit of making bad things happen to people he doesn't like. The other has just vanished without a trace. As Tres looks into the dirty dealings surrounding Miranda, it becomes clear he's stepped into a rattlesnakes' nest of greed, double cross, and murder—and he may be the next to be snakebit.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Detective, Crime, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller, Thriller

416 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 4, 1998

About the author

Rick Riordan is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of many books, including the Percy Jackson series.

Reviews

[Anirudh · Rating 3 out of 5]

"She forgot she was in front of an audience and sang every emotion in the world into the microphone. She broke her heart and fell in love..."

Apparently, having the voice of a nightingale also makes you susceptible to being devoured predators.

The second novel in the Tres Navarre series delves into a darker side of music and the music industry. The plot entrances audience like a good tune, and while the novel isn't exactly thrilling, the secondary characters play their instruments...uh, roles captivatingly.

Ralphas plays the role of reliable badass buddy quite well, and the novel adds more substance to this recurring character. Miranda, too, becomes a memorable character as Rick vividly conveys her idiosyncratic frequency into the imagination of the audience.

Of course, the derisive parrot, who Tres aptly christens (lol), is a hilarious stand out, matching Tres' irreverence blow for blow and ensuring jocularity in single words (because cussing is funny, duh).

Side note: Keep it in your pants Tres! Sleeping with the subject of your investigation isn't usually a good idea, especially, if you sleep with her bestie(-ish) later...like, strategise bruh (lmao).

The Widower's Two-Step, is like a song that's worth listening to, but prolly not on repeat.

[Katy-Del · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rick Riordan is so descriptive, I feel like I am in San Antonio or Austin. I love that.

It was good, but I hated the people Tres was around in the book. Everyone Tres was supposed to be helping, Milo, the band, the boss's wife, they all just seemed like such bad, manipulative people. I was really just cheering for Tres to satisfy his curiosity and move on.

He did manage to not get hit in the face until about page 200.

[Karyl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love this book so much. I adore Riordan's Percy Jackson series, with its tight, witty writing that has me laughing out loud in places. But unfortunately this book isn't up to the same quality. For one thing, there are so many characters, few of them fully fleshed out, that it's hard to remember who's who, or how they're related. Secondly, the events that occur can be somewhat confusing. I just couldn't follow along exactly what was going on, but I caught the gist of it with wide brush strokes. Thirdly, I felt as though the story dragged. I loved Riordan's descriptions, but the way he relayed the action felt sluggish. And a not-quite-400-page paperback should not take me five days to finish. For the record, I saw the twist at the end coming, so it wasn't much of a twist, sadly.

I suppose I will stick to Riordan's YA fiction, since I know that's great.

[Spuddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review applies to the audio version.

#2 in the Tres Navarre PI series set in Texas. Tres, with his PhD in English, is using his degree in the way many English majors do--by doing something totally unrelated to their studies. He's almost got enough hours logged in with his mentor to apply for an official Private Investigator's license when a person he's staking out is shot right while he's (supposed to be) watching.

Julie Kearns was a fiddle player, suspected of stealing the demo tape of an up and coming country singer, Miranda Daniels--and now she's dead. Tres's boss is not happy with him and asks him to think seriously about whether he wants to continue in this line of work. He thinks it's in his blood--his father, Jackson Navarre II, was Sheriff for many years. His mother sets up an (unwanted) interview with a local university where he would be able to teach and use the degree he earned back in California, but he has now been drawn fully into the case of the fiddle player's death, and the intrigue of who really did steal the demo tape. More bodies stack up, Miranda's manager has disappeared off the face of the earth, and Tres isn't such which way to look for suspects. Eventually things get solved--and I admit to being totally surprised by the plot twist at the end.

I really like Tres, with his literary references, yet he's very much down to earth and not at all a stuffed shirt. The secondary characters are great too, from his siren mother with her toy boy boyfriend, his wheelchair-bound, pot-smoking brother Garrett, to his friend Ralph, who seems to be somewhat of a gangster with the Mexican mob. The audio version was well-done, narrated by Tom Stechshulte, who did a variety of voices skillfully, such that I was just able to picture the speaker right in my head by listening. Enjoyable second entry and very much looking forward to the next.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely zero complaints. While not quite as personal as the first book in the series, the craft is undiminished. All the characters seem very real, and the plot moves at a breakneck pace. Dialogue is sharp and narration flawless, and often laugh-out-loud, especially in regards to stupid people and his cat. I also love the little nods to Chaucer and Beowulf and so forth. I majored in English at the same college Tres interviews for a job at.

Having lived in San Antonio eleven years (Erainya's office is in the same strip mall as my old insurance agent), I can say that his description of the city, while friendlier than mine, is pretty damned accurate. The only major differences arising from the fact that, like Riordan mentions a few times, the town grows and changes at occasionally unbelievable speed. Its essential character doesn't seem to change at all.

Widower's Two-Step is one of the weakest in the series, but still a great read, and never once let me down. Far as I'm concerned, the Tres Navarre books are the best P.I. novels I've read since Hammett.

And no, I don't mean Chandler. The hack.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

PI in-training Tres Navarre, while working on a stolen demo tape for a promising female country star, stumbles upon the murder of a musician in San Antonio. As the plot thickens, the reader gets a tour of competitive forces in the music industry in Austin and a great cast of high rollers and low-life denizens of South Texas, with frequent side trips for Mexican food. The hero has a PhD in English, a a scintillating wit, and a sensitive heart, which doesn't help him avoid danger or entangling love relationships.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love this because of my love for Percy Jackson and company. I didn't. It's like Chet and Bernie without the canine charm. Very straight-forward mystery with the overly macho dude sleeping with too many women. Ugh.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good story. Funny antics. I like the one-liners and zingers. But whoever narrates this Gruene Hall is pronounced "Green" like the color. Its not "gru-en". There are a few others but its obvious that he is NOT from Texas. 🤣

[Melani · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's something comforting to me about these books. They're not great, but they're good enough. And as I said before, Riordan's narrative voice is extremely strong.

[Maja · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5
Chyba wolę Ricka Riordana w książkach dla dzieci

[Nerissa Narciso · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good mystery series for teenage kids. Well written and the pace is okay for teenage kids to read.

[itchy · Rating 5 out of 5]

eponymous sentence:
p97: The next song was even sadder--"The Widower's Two-Step," about a man's last dance with his wife, with references to a little boy.

cement:
p120: I crouched down and looked at the cement steps at my feet.

p154: The kid went back off his elbows and hit his head on the cement edge of the stairs.

p252: The cement pylons were still there, and a few boards not yet rotted to splinters.

p302. So was the cement dance area.

p355: We met Ralph under the loading dock, where metal slats had been laid across from the cement to the truck bed.

p360: Plastic caps shot off and three CDs spilled out like metallic poker chips, slishing colorfully across the cement.

p381: Behind me Gary Hales' watering hose sprayed across the cement and droplets thudded into the grass.

This is just perfect as a paperback--two or three filps to a chapter average. And just about the right length, too. An easy and enjoyable read.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a like/hate relationship with this series. There's time's I really like Tres, then there's time's I am reading it because I love his cat Robert Johnson. Tres is a drunk who bumbles around and trips over the truth. He really needs to stop drinking and keep his pants on. The best scene in this book hands down is the scene with a very loud boombox and a parrot.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this Tres Navarre book better than the first.
I still think Tres would not be able to function if he were a real person. He drinks more than eating or sleeping.
I agree with other reviews, besides Tres and Robert Johnson and Jem, the characters were not likable.
I’m still not sure about Miranda.
I will say the end was a surprise and mildly satisfying.

[LeeAnne · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I love Tres Navarre and his cat Robert Johnson, this book dragged a bit for me. I guess the country music business of Texas just doesn't interest me that much. Regardless, the writing is good and the snark is snarky so I'll keep reading about the trials and tribulations of Tres.

[Kirsten Muller · Rating 4 out of 5]

And I come back to Tres Navarre! Did I enjoy it? Mostly yes. Was I disappointed? Yes and no. Not really, but sort of.

It was one of those books where I was into it as I was reading it, but I could easily put it down if I had to. Then, I wouldn't necessarily be reluctant to continue it, but I wasn't in a hurry. Still finished it relatively quickly.

It just felt so much slower and more drawn-out than the first book. Which is weird. It's not like it didn't have any action. It's not like stuff wasn't happening. I shouldn't consider it unexciting just because people were only pulling guns on each other every ten minutes (as opposed to every five minutes, like the first book). So, why do I feel disappointed? I honestly couldn't tell you. Maybe it's because the killer was basically whom he expected right off the bat (there was no mystery or twist there whatsoever). Maybe it's just second-book syndrome. Again, I just don't know.

Just so you know, this book DOES have a twist at the end - it just doesn't involve the killer. I kind of enjoyed it, though I don't know why Tres just didn't do anything about it. That being said, I honestly don't know how it could be pulled off. I don't know the state of DNA analysis techniques in the mid- to -late 90s, but surely they were there to some extent. Though maybe there was no DNA to analyze? I'm not sure.

As a side note, I also liked the subplot with Tres interviewing for a position as an English professor. Part of me hopes he takes the job, and just does his investigative work on the side. There also might be some foreshadowing there, since apparently the next book involves murdered English professors at the very University for which he interviewed.

I still feel like Tres got away with way too much, like with first one.

All in all, I DID enjoy it, despite everything I just said. I'm making it seem like it wasn't exciting or action-packed when it was. I think I just hampered my enjoyment by comparing it to the first book too much. I'm definitely going to continue with the series and probably finish it.

Onward with hope!

[Ryan Monson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a big step back from the first book. To start it feels very distant from that book. Almost no mention of those events is in here but this book does reference several other things Tres did between the two books and not it a way where it explains those things, more that you should already know about them. There are a few holdover characters from book one including Tres' mom, his brother, the reporter he knocked into the water in book one (which was a year ago maybe so they have been together for awhile but she appears early on then disappears without another thought), and his old high school friend. Yet none of these characters is as well fleshed out as they were in book one. They basically serve the same purpose they did in the first book and either aren't in it as much or don't do anything new. Even the first person narration doesn't feel as sharp. In the first book Tres' narration and his humorous over-exaggerations that made him a bit of an unreliable narrator (not unreliable as far as facts are concerned just with the embellishment of details within a scene) are still here they just don't feel as fresh or as clever. Then there is the plot. It isn't nearly as intricate and well woven as book one. Tres also rarely seems to do much detecting in this book, rather the plot just meanders along with him there as opposed to the first book where Tres was the driving force in much of the plot. Then the ending was also a page by page rehash of the climax of book one right down to bringing his high school friend along and refusing a gun but this time it didn't take place because Tres brought us here with the plot, instead we just randomly were taken to some place where a shootout was going to happen because...reasons. There were some bad guys there that I didn't recognize though they were probably introduced at some point earlier on in the novel.

I enjoyed book one enough to give this series one more shot, but this book definitely didn't propel me to read more.

[Rita · Rating 3 out of 5]

1998. I enjoyed this as much as I did the first book in the series, Big Red Tequila. Again, it's the nice descriptive stuff about San Antonio streets, neighborhoods, eating places, competition between sheriffs in different counties and the like.

151 "Ralph [2nd generation Mexican gangster type] had come from poverty, from a factory shantytown [in or near San Antonio] where his father had died of cement dust in his lungs and where second-generation natives still kept fake green cards because it was easier than making La Migra [US border control?] believe their U.S. nationality."

I like the occasional one or two lines of psychological observation.

The plot, again, is so complicated that you never can figure it out and don't even bother to try much. Every half hour or so, something unexpected happens -- somebody draws a gun on Tres or tries to run him off the road; Tres sees that happen to someone else; he overhears a conversation that establish someone as having murdered someone else. That type of stuff. The deadly tai chi moves are thankfully less frequent than in the first novel, but still it's interesting to hear that Tres can inflict so much bodily damage on other people using only his hands and body as weapons.

Food, usually Mexican, is again described several times.

Riordan uses tons of words and expressions and brandnames that are only familiar to Texans or more generally to Americans. I read the book thinking whether my grandson here would be able to guess that XX was the name of a beer. Or a candy bar. Or a football team. And quite a lot of Spanish words thrown in, often with nothing even in context to help you guess. Seems rather... what's the word? meaningless, doesn't really add much to the book. We're meant to believe Tres [and the author] can understand Spanish pretty well, but I'm not at all convinced.

[Randall Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for a virtual book club that is starting, and I thought the book was pretty much average, which I found a little surprising for a book that won the Best Paperback Original Edgar Award back in 1999. I don't know, maybe the standards are lower for a paperback original, or there's not as much competition? I found the main character to not be very convincing - he has a PhD in Medieval English, practices Tai Chi, lives in a dumpy apartment, and wants to be a PI more than he does a professor. It feels like the author tried to make him complex and interesting, but to me the different aspects of his life just don't seem to fit together. I also found the plot to be somewhat contrived, and there's a switch at the end that I didn't find to be believable at all. The other thing that bothered me is the main character had a girlfriend, but winds up falling into bed with two other women as the story progresses. To me the sex seemed kind of gratuitous relative to the story, and the "relationship" the main character had with either of the women wasn't very convincing. Having spent a year living in Texas, I didn't find the descriptions or story to be very evocative of Texas either. So, overall, this was an OK mystery, but there certainly are better ones out there.

[Belinda Earl Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

What Kid?

Tres Navarre is in the park across the street from a parking lot. He’s trying to get pictures of a woman meeting someone that she’s not supposed to be meeting. If he does his boss will be pleased, and they’ll both get paid.
However, right now he has some obstacles to his goal. His employer sent her four year old son, Jem, with Tres. Right now he’s swinging as high as he can and making akk-akk sounds pretending to have a machine gun .
Then there’s the fact that even if it’s October Texas is still waiting for a cold front to finally turn down the heat. The heat is causing haze on the camera, and sweat is clouding Tres’ vision.
Then there’s the tai chi instructor standing between Tres and the parking lot now. The instructor is telling Tres to “Could you please tell your kid to be quiet?”
To find out what happens next and to know if Tres gets his pictures read The Widower’s Two-Step!

[Christina Bergling · Rating 3 out of 5]

As my book club works its way through this series, The Widower's Two-Step brought me back to Tres Navarre. This book directly follows its predecessor, Big Red Tequila, and remains consistent. And I felt the same about it as I did Big Red Tequila. It was fine. Parts did not resonate or work for me, but overall, it was an entertaining book full of rich description and local Texas flavor.

My main complaint with The Widower's Two-Step is that the beginning lags painful. I was inconsolably bored for the first 15-20 chapters. Then, however, the pace finds its footing, and the rest of the book is a fun ride.

[Scott Bolick · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I learned that famous young adult author Rick Riordan also wrote detective stories based in Texas I knew I had to read them. The story is a Texas spin on the Hard-boiled detective genre and sticks pretty closely with what you would expect. Most of the genre boxes are checked pretty quickly: a flawed but overall goodhearted detective that zig-zags between legal and illegal investigative methods, corrupt police officers, rich and powerful antagonists with political connections, clearly immoral crime lords who help our detective due to old friendships, and a series of beautiful and dangerous damsels to twine our protagonist around their fingers.

As with most books of this style it isn't trying to make you think too hard, but the mystery is still complex enough that you don't put it together immediately and tap your foot waiting on the detective to catch up. If you enjoy the genre it is a fun read and the Texas twist does add some freshness.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the second installment of the Tres Navarre series by Rick Riordan. If you’re expecting some good YA (which Riordan does an excellent job at too), this is not it. (Which is why all the mixed reviews). It’s regular fiction with all the nitty gritty of a morally adrift unlicensed PI trying to stop people getting murdered all the time. Or at least trying to save the girl. It’s very Texas. And so 90’s. And I loved every minute of it. #tresnavarreseries #rickriordan #skavlemshelves #2021reads

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In spite of the time it took me to read it, this was an excellent book. I just had two others going at the same time. Two-Step is a continuation of Tres Navarro’s story from Big Red Tequila yet the story is a stand alone. Again, Rick Riordan, please hear us! We want more books for adults!! Percy Jackson is terrific, but give us old folk some more Tres!

Tres Navarro is an almost-thirty- year-old almost-licensed private detective living with his cat Robert Johnson in San Antonio, Texas, not putting his PhD in Medieval English Literature to much use at the moment. (More later)

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book opens with Tres Navarre on a surveillance of a woman whom Tres suspects of stealing an audio recording of a musicians's session. When that woman is assassinated while he's watching her, Tres has to solve the mystery of why she was the target, even though he is warned off the case buy multiple people, including his employer. This leads his to interview all sorts in the music scene in San Antonio and Austin and leads his to more mayhem and fun for the reader.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good series starring Tres Navarre, late bloomer and PI in training in San Antonio. In this book, Tres is apprenticing in order to get his PI license, and gets involved in the country music business when there are some shenanigans around the future stardom of a young, local singer. It features the country music industry, double-dealing music reps, pirated CDs and a great feel for San Antonio music, culture and food.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rick Riordn and Tres Navarre do not disappoint in the second of this series. Still working toward a PI license, Tres finds himself caught up in international crime with piracy of country music. As two recording agents fight over stars and misleading contracts, there is this other intrigue going on just under the surface with lots of bodies and corruption. Sure to stimulate your detective skills as you try to solve the who of this scenario, excellent read.

[Zuza Jędrusik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ta część serii o samozwańczym detektywie Tresie podobała mi się bardziej niż pierwsza. Nie była tak chaotyczna, pod względem ilości bohaterów i miejsc, jak pierwsza, chyba że już się przyzwyczaiłam. Kto wie.
Ale bardzo mi się podobała, i znowu nie domyśliłam się zakończenia 😆
Tres Navarre dla mnie to taki słodziak, bezradny kociak, którego trzeba cały czas ratować, chociaż tak naprawdę tak nie jest, ale sprawia dla mnie takie wrażenie 🥹🩷😍
Aż nie mogę się doczekać czytania kolejnej części

[Esteban Stipnieks · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is gem because it has an accurate description of a now destroyed piece of San Antonio aviation history the story is pushed a bit but all in fun Rick knows San Antonio and knows enough about country music and history to be dangerous.... all in all its a fun little romp through the area circa 1998....

[Aidan Macadam · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot longer than it needed to be, but still enjoyable. Unlike the other books in the series, this is less of a mystery and more of a thriller, not that there isn't any mystery elements, but they're definitely toned down.

The characters were very interesting, not to mention fleshed out and imperfect in a good way. My favorite had to be Miranda Daniels.