Tamara Hayle is one of the genre's most interesting PIs, a hard-working single mother with a no-nonsense approach to her work and a soft spot for kids. In The Devil Riding, the sixth outing for her series' heroine, Valerie Wilson Wesley turns in what may be her breakout book.

Tamara is working undercover in Atlantic City, looking for a missing teenager whose wealthy parents seem to have ambivalent feelings about finding her, and as Tamara gets closer to the action and more pretty young girls keep turning up dead, she begins to understand why. Gabriella Desmond is the stepdaughter of a wealthy businessman who's something of a hero in the African American community, and there are a few skeletons in the Desmond background he doesn't want exposed, regardless of his wife's concerns about Gabriella. And Gabriella's real father is a right-wing firebrand whose anti-abortion politics are as central to the plot as the Desmond family secrets. Amid the gaudy glitter of the casinos, Tamara befriends a scared girl who may know what happened to Gabriella, and she snags a lead to the other killings that are clearly tied into Gabriella's disappearance. She also runs into Basil Dupre, who she last saw lying in a pool of blood on a balcony in Jamaica. This fascinating, sexy, strong-willed man has the ability to bring Tamara's passion to life unlike anyone else. He may not be someone a girl can count on for the long haul, but before this well-written story is finished, you'll understand why he's worth it. If The Devil Riding is your first encounter with Tamara Hayle, you'll soon be searching for Wesley's backlist, starting with When Death Comes Stealing. --Jane Adams


From Publishers Weekly
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.


From Booklist
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


Book Description
Tamara Hayle is never going to be as rich as the Desmonds, one of Newark, New Jersey's most affluent and influential black families. But the struggling p.i. wouldn't want their troubles either, now that their rebellious daughter Gabriella has run off to Atlantic City, where a serial killer is prowling the streets. For a substantial fee, however, Tamara's willing to join the hunt for the missing African-American heiress -- expecially after Gabriella's last known roommate joins the ranks of the murdered. Somwhere in the twilight zone that separates the poor and the wealthy of color -- in the terrifying shadow of a deadly criminal kingpin -- are shocking secrets that Tamara needs to uncover. And suddenly the Desmonds' woes -- lethal and devastating -- have become Tamara's own.


About the Author
Valerie Wilson Wesley is an editor-at-large for Essence magazine and the author of the nationally bestselling Tamara Hayle mystery series and Always True to You in My Fashion. She was a 1993 recipient of the Griot Award from the New York Chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists. Wesley has two daughters and is married to noted screenwriter and playwright Richard Wesley.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

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.

Valerie Wilson Wesley is a contributing editor of Essence magazine.

FROM THE CRITICS

Barnes & Noble Guide to New Fiction

In this mystery, recurring character Tamara Hayle goes undercover in the casinos of Atlantic City to track a runaway teen.

Publishers Weekly

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 Cahners Business Information.|

Kirkus Reviews

New Jersey runaways eager for action often wind up in glitzy, tawdry Atlantic City, and frequently, if they're sassy-looking but naive, in gangster Delmundo Real's hotel suite, where they disappear into the boudoir with older men with jaded tastes, particularly for violent sex. Newark's premier sleuth, Tamara Hayle (Easier to Kill, 1998, etc.), on the lookout for rich truant Gabriella Desmond, fills in as a bartender during one of Real's soirées long enough to meet scared young Amaretta, who may know Gabriella's whereabouts, and Tamara's own sometime soulmate, Basil Dupre, who's hunting for his missing teenaged daughter. Unfortunately, the trail to both Gabriella and Dupre's girl leads toward what might be a serial killer at work—or, just as bad, a customer of Real's who likes to play rough with his nightly cuties. Real warns Tamara off by trashing her car, but she persists, tracking down Gabriella's best friend, a homeless boy named Rook; studying Gabriella's brother Carter as he loses big in the casinos; and interviewing Jayne and Layne, two of Gabriella's recent roommates, just before they're murdered in unpleasant ways. The Desmond parents cast a cold eye on Tamara's detecting efforts, particularly when she implies incest episodes may have driven the now pregnant Gabriella from home. More sorrow, more dead kids, and more nuzzling with Basil will occupy Tamara before she flips a last quarter in the slots and heads back north. Despite the syrupy distraction of superlover Basil, an unromantic look at kids caught in snares set by smarmy adults.