The Devil Riding - Hardcover

Valerie Wilson Wesley

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0709068387 ISBN 13: 9780709068389

Publisher: Robert Hale Ltd, 2001

Synopsis

Tamara Hayle goes undercover in the casinos of Atlantic City to track a runaway teen in this gripping new mystery.

Hailed as one of the best ethnic and female sleuthing mystery series, Valerie Wilson Wesley's Tamara Hayle novels are consistent standouts. "She keeps peeling back layers and layers with a skill and determination that recall Ross MacDonald," says Kirkus Reviews. Now, in her sixth Hayle mystery, Wesley mines the intersection of African-American rich and poor caught in the crossroads of Atlantic City.

Darnella Desmond, stepdaughter to wealthy Foster Desmond, leaves her plush home for the wilds of Atlantic City, eschewing all contact with her family. When Darnella's last-known roommate is murdered, apparently by a serial killer stalking Atlantic City's vulnerable runaway population, Darnella's mother hires Tamara Hayle to track her daughter down.

As her investigation brings her closer to Darnella, Tamara discovers that at the heart of the young woman's disappearance lie two generations' worth of familial perversity--and a legacy of betrayal that threatens to undo the Desmond family.

Rich in the vices and delights of Atlantic City, freighted with characters whose passions too often lead to murder, The Devil Riding finds Valerie Wilson Wesley at her tempting best.

About this title

About the Author

Valerie Wilson Wesley is the author of the Tamara Hayle Mystery series. Her previous books published by G.P. Putnam's Sons include: When Death Comes Stealing, Devil's Gonna Get Him, Where Evil Sleeps, Easier to Kill, and No Hiding Place . They have also been published in Great Britain, France and Germany, and television and film rights for the first three books have been optioned. Ms. Wesley is also the author of Freedom's Gifts: A Juneteenth Story, which is a picture book for children and the young adult novel Where Do I Go From Here (Scholastic, November 1993) for which she received an ALA Best Book for Reluctant Readers citation. She is formerly executive editor and currently a contributing editor of Essence magazine.

Ms. Wesley's fiction and nonfiction for both adults and children have appeared in many publications including Essence, Family Circle, TV Guide, Ms, Creative Classroom, and The New York Times. She is a 1993 recipient of the Griot Award from the New York Chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Ms. Wesley is a graduate of Howard University and has received masters' degrees form both the Banks Street College of Education and the Columbia graduate School of Journalism. She is the mother of two grown daughters and the wife of noted screenwriter and playwright Richard Wesley.

Reviews

What looks like a simple case--tracing a teenage runaway--has PI Tamara Hayle not only frustrated but ultimately terrified in her sixth outing (after Easier to Kill) in this strong ethnic series. Dominique Desmond, second wife to the scion of one of New Jersey's wealthiest black families, asks Tamara to find her rebellious daughter, Gabriella, who was last seen in Atlantic City. Despite the curious hostility of Dominique's high-profile husband and his son, Tamara decides to take the case, driven by both her need for the lucrative fee and her desire to stop a serial killer preying on runaways in the Jersey coastal resort. Although confident that her ethnic identity will help her form ties within the city's black community, she is sadly mistaken. While she can be shamelessly flirtatious (masquerading as a bartender), profoundly pious (trying to glean information from Dominique) or even egregiously untruthful (practically all the time), Tamara discovers little. Yet she does find that the city's crime lord, the sinister Delmundo R?al, had ties to all the young murder victims, and that he now has his malevolent eyes on her. And the members of the Desmond family, who abruptly dismiss her from the case, are definitely hiding secrets of their own. While the novel may be philosophically trite ("We all have good and bad within us"), Tamara's hard-hearted relentlessness, a stellar cast of peripheral characters and a gripping plot add up to fine reading. Agent, Faith H. Childs. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In her sixth adventure, Newark PI Tamara Hayle takes a job looking for 18-year-old Gabriella Desmond, whose wealthy parents, mother Dominique and stepfather Foster, seem curiously at odds about the young woman's disappearance. Foster believes the whole thing is a prank, but Dominique clearly thinks something is very wrong; and Gabriella's older half-brother, Carver, seems almost desperate to find his half-sister. The trail leads Tamara to Atlantic City, where runaway girls and prostitutes are being victimized by what appears to be a serial killer on the loose. Tamara soon discovers that one of Gabriella's friends fell off--or was thrown from--a balcony, and her last known roommate has been murdered. Despite a plot that occasionally strays too far into melodrama, the novel is rescued by Wesley's solid characterizations (especially the captivating Tamara), well-realized setting, and authentic depiction of teenage runaways. Not the best in the series but solid entertainment all the same. Stuart Miller
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Robert Hale Ltd
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0709068387
• ISBN 13: 9780709068389
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224