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
