Although the ranch was actually left to his older brother, Garrett, Tres has spent a lot of time and money on the place and is shocked that Garrett would borrow money against it. Even more unnerving is the news that Garrett had quit his safe programming job to launch a start up company, Techsan, with his life long friend, Jimmy Doebler, and Jimmy’s ex-wife, Ruby McBride. The trio had high hopes for the company, selling a unique encryption program that seemed to be successful in its initial trials. Convinced that he would soon be able to retire on the merits of this clever product, Garrett soundly rejected a buyout offer from Matthew Pena, but then glitches appeared in the system. Now it appears Pena will be able to buy the company anyway at a much lower price.

Garrett’s rosy world is beginning to turn dark, especially when Jimmy is found dead, apparently murdered. All the available evidence points toward Garrett. Despite their longstanding friendship, the failure of Techsan and Jimmy’s tangential responsibility for Garrett’s accident that sentenced him to a life in a wheelchair, provide ample motivation for Garrett to murder his buddy. Tres, however, knows his brother could not have done such a thing, and takes it upon himself to discover the real murderer.

The Devil Went Down to Austin is the fourth in a series featuring P.I. Tres Navarre. Not having read the previous three, I approached this one with some trepidation, thinking I would be either lost or treated to a rehash of the previous plots. Neither situation proved to be the case. Information germane to this story is deftly inserted, but there is clearly a history to the main characters that can only be gained by reading the preceding books. The reader can therefore enjoy this volume as a stand alone, or be tempted to research this history at a later date.

Author Riordan clearly has his act together. The plot is intricate and well done. There are no obvious situations set up so a character can learn an essential bit of knowledge, improbable rescue scenes, gratuitous violence or sex, and yet the reader is entertained by good solid writing with an ample sprinkling of wry humor which offsets the grim reality of some not very happy lives. Fans of Dave Barry will notice Riordan has a similar wit.

It would not be fair to characterize this book as either plot driven or character driven as Mr. Riordan treats both aspects of writing with equal skill. My brief synopsis of the plot does not do it justice, primarily because this man writes so well. He does not believe in excess verbiage. As one character replies to Tres’s statement “I’ve been there.” “---No. Navarre. You have not where I’ve been. It’s a place you don’t want to go.” Everything fits together just right. The characters are realistic and believable. They are not perfect, but not so tortured that one has a hard time believing they can function at all. The characters that life has dealt a pretty bad hand have discovered some lifeline which seems to pull them through. Garrett has his dreams, and Tres has the ranch.

Honestly, this book went to the bottom of my pile of review books because I’ve read reviews of Mr. Riordan’s books and hadn’t thought I’d like them. That, of course, was a mistake. The Devil Went Down to Austin is an excellent book. It, deservedly, is on the short list for the 2002 Shamus Award for the best P.I. novel and were I allowed to vote for it, I certainly would.

--Andy Plonka