Lair of the Lizard - Hardcover

Ayres, E. C.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312192959 ISBN 13: 9780312192952

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books, 1998

Synopsis

When private detective Tony Lowell investigates the disappearance of a young woman, a friend of his daughter, in New Mexico, he enlists the aid of fellow sleuth Joshua Croft and a New Age mystic to find the missing woman.

About this title

From the Author

Barring popular demand this will be the last of this series.
I have tried to address powerful social and ecological issues (including state of the nation/world/planet issues) in my books. That has not always been met with approval from more traditional mystery readers and institutions (including my own publisher). As a result this may be the last of this admittedly experimental series. Not that I won't continue writing, or writing topical books, so please, read on, and if you like this book, some of the early ones are still available as well (Hour of the Manatee, Night of the Panther).

From the Back Cover

From Publishers Weekly: The most interesting moment in Ayres's fourth book (after last year's Night of the Panther) about Florida PI Tony Lowell comes when Lowell meets up with another PI named Joshua Croft in Santa Fe and finds him boozy and "semi-retired... a man of leisure." Croft is the hero of three well-received books by Walter Satterthwait set in that New Mexico city (Accustomed to the Dark, etc.). Other than this apparent homage among literary friends, little else in this routine outing rises to a level of fascination. Lowell, a ponytailed Vietnam vet and former top photographer of the glitterati, now lives in rural Florida, where he restores an old boat and does as little detective work as possible. But when his wide-eyed daughter, Ariel, asks him to find Alicia Sandoval, a friend from a New Age seminar in Santa Fe who seems to be fleeing from an abusive husband, Lowell drops his tools and takes off for that trendy city. Almost immediately, he's threatened by teenage Latino gangsters and gets involved in racial and familial strife. The social details ring true, but Ayres's soured tourist's take on the evils of Santa Fe quickly grows tediousAespecially in contrast to the more measured judgments to be found in Satterthwait's books. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Edition details

• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312192959
• ISBN 13: 9780312192952
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 248