Fifteen members attended the last Whodunit meeting of 2011. Two members contributed to our waistlines with wonderful cookies and chocolates. Thanks so much.
Our book this month was "Big red tequila" by Rick Riordan. (pronounced Rye or din)
The first in a series of novels featuring Tres Navarre, an unlicensed private investigator set in San Antonio, Texas.
From the author's website: Jackson "Tres" Navarre and his enchilada-eating cat, Robert Johnson, pull into San Antonio and find nothing 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, turns up 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 'big red tequila' referred to in the title is a drink of tequila mixed with Big Red cream soda. UCK!
Once again we rated the novel by voting 1-10 as to our enjoyment. The score was 4.6
Plus points: Everyone seems to agree that the cat, Robert Johnson was a real and likeable 'character' who added to the book. The character of Maia was feisty and seemed too smart to be paired up with the protagonist Tres (pronounced “trace”). The descriptions of the San Antonio setting were well depicted and written with a real knowledge of the area.
Minus points: The cover was not particularly attractive and many said that they would NOT have read the book if just perusing the shelves. It appears at first glance to be a western novel. The character of Tres came off as being rather unintelligent. Although it was stated in the novel that he holds a PhD in medieval studies. The peripheral characters were unrealistically portrayed. The wrap up to the story was confusing to read and the resolution was murky and difficult to understand.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Rick Riordan is a Shamus and Anthony Award winning novelist. You can view an online interview with him here.
Although our book club did not rate the novel "Big Red Tequila" highly, there are many who do as is proven by his award-winning status.
The question was posed: "How do you know a book is good if you've never read one that's bad...?
Lucky book winners this month were: Lynne, Carolyn, Camilla, Tracey and Margaret.
Our next meeting will be held the last Tuesday of January 2012, when we will discuss the novel, "Skin and bones" by Tom Bale.
