Just Enough Light to Kill by A. E. Maxwell

Fiddler and Fiora Mystery #4

by A.E. Maxwell

Mexico can be a dangerous place when you mess with the wrong folks--as Fiddler and Fiora find out in their latest adventure. Fiddler's ex-wife and current lover Fiora breaks the news to him that his old friend, a U.S. Customs agent, was killed south of the border. When the trail loops back home to California, the duo team up to outfox a very clever enemy from the past who refuses to die. Previous Bantam.

Genres: Mystery, Romance, Mystery Thriller

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
(1)
collaboration of Ann Maxwell and Evan Maxwell

also aka Lowell Charters, Elizabeth Lowell, and Annalise Sun

Reviews

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Timely mystery set on the Mexican/American border detailing human smuggling and a Soviet intelligence officer.

[Denise Spicer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Fiddler and Fiora mystery, written in 1988, deals with illegal activities along the Mexican border. Bigtime human smuggling, lots of action, violence, and clever maneuvers amongst those who enable the invasion and those who attempt to stop or curtail it.

[LJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

JUST ENOUGH LIGHT TO KILL - Ex
Maxwell, A.E. - 4th in series

In sunny southern California living is easy. And in Mexico, when you mess with the wrong folks, dying is easy too--as sexy, savvy RI. Fiddler finds out when he heads down to Tijuana. When a U.S. Customs agent who saved his life is killed, Fiddler heads south of the border with some unpleasant questions for some decidedly unpleasant people. Suddenly, he's at the top of the Tijuana hit parade, a target of smugglers, banditos, and the shadowy El Cojo, a blast from Fiddler's past. The trail of greed and deception leads him to a bank in Newport Beach and his voluptuous ex-wife, Fiora--and Fiddler's going to need her wiles to outfox El Cojo, who's marked him for death and won't let borders stand in his way.

I love this series.

[Lynn Pribus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is old enough to vote. Someone at my gym is clearly emptying shelves of old mysteries. This one moved right along with shenanigans between Chula Vista and Tijuana.

Fiddler, the intrepid P.I. put me in mind of Travis McGee. He is more or less living with his ex-wife and there are the requisite interesting characters including Benny who is an electronics expert and uses a wheelchair. The electronics, of course, are also old enough to vote.

Moves along nicely and is written with words of more than two syllables with the occasional diversion into nearly literary flights of wordage.

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not a huge fan of the border stories and the Mexican bandits. Perhaps that's because we live close enough to that reality that I hear some of it on the news. Regardless, while this might have been a good book, I was too turned off by this theme that I ended up not reading more than a few chapters in and putting aside for good.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good leading character with plausible storyline

[Katie Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

Fiona and Fiddler are fantastic. Wish there were more than 7 in this series! Elizabeth Lowell has written many books, but none like this series. Am crazy for them!

[Misti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good book in the series, however, since I've been binge reading and re-reading A.E. Maxwell & Ann Maxwell & Elizabeth Lowell (all the same person plus a husband co-writer) for quite a few books now, I think I better take a break. But then...I'll be back for book 5.

[Ashleigh Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Named by TIME magazine as one of the best suspense novels of the year “Fiddler is to California what Spenser is to Boston and Travis McGee is to Florida. Tough, smart guys who know that sometimes, what looks like paradise, is pure hell.”—Paul Levine, best-selling author of Illegal “Maxwell’s work is engaging and wonderfully articulated.”—Robert B. Parker “Maxwell’s style is sexy and hard-hitting.”—Publishers Weekly Back in print, the fourth Fiddler & Fiora crime novel. When an American customs agent who once saved Fiddler’s life dies suspiciously on the US-Mexican border, Fiddler heads south to look into the death.