Rating: 
Summary: Not with a bang, but a whimper.
Review: Much as I've enjoyed this terrific series, and as well done it is..for what it is...my overall feeling is that Nava ended the Henry Rios series with a distinctly mediocre outing. Perhaps he was tired of it and felt he had no place to take Henry and his usual cast of characters anymore. What he's given his fans...and I am a great one...this time out is a thoroughly predictable (often laughingly so) outing that passes time pleasantly, gives some nice smiles and insights into humanity, but not much more. Nothing terribly wrong here, just nothing terribly special. If I had to recommend Nava to anyone, and I've done a lot of that over the years, I'd send them straight to DEATH OF FRIENDS or BURNING PLAIN, which I'm sure I'll go back to myself soon enough.As it stands, I'd have to say, with no small amount of remorse, wait for the paperback on this one and save yourself a few bucks.
Rating: 
Summary: Family drama
Review: Nava's final Henry Rios has a tepid first half, but it does become more involving towards the end. Henry becomes involved in figuring out what happened when his new-found niece is arrested for murdering her husband. His niece's son Angel ends up living with Henry, as Henry also begins dating again. This is a great example of the movement in recent gay fiction toward family- and relationship-oriented stories. It's compelling in its own fashion, but the mystery thread is rather weak.
Rating:
Summary: ¡Bien viaje, Henry Rios!
Review: Raymond Chandler, the founder of hard-boiled LA murder mysteries, famouslay complained , "The better you write a mystery, the more clearly you demonstrate that the mystery is really not worth writing." Although Nava has lost interest in churning out mystery novels, after having produced eight in sixteen years, while practicing law all but one of those years; he is good at it. He is definitely quitting while he is ahead of the game. I am a fan of the character and have mostly tolerated rather than welcomed the genre demands of Henry Rios figuring out who really killed whomever. There is a mystery, the solution to which I guess wrongly two-thirds of the way through the book. As usual in the mysteries written by Nava (and, before him, Joseph Hansen), there are very complicated sexual identity politics involved. There are also ethnic identity politics in Henry's personal and professional life. However, the primary concern herein is with family. The changes in criminal lawyer Henry Rios's life in this eighth and final volume sound too good to be true. Indeed, they seem a combination of politically correctness and wish-fulfillment. However, drugs, violence , societal prejudices of various sort and convoluted California politics are again in the foreground. Henry may yet live "happily ever after," but it has not and will not be all that easy. He's a fairly prickly dude, easily rubbed the wrong way by his sister (and everyone else). Nava's prose is very readable, the repartee in and out of court is snappy.
Rating: 
Summary: I Demand More!
Review: This is the same character that was in A Little Death? The two "Henry Rioses" resemble each other not at all. In A Little Death, he was hardboiled, cynical and somewhat bitter. In Rag and Bone, he was all lovey-dovey and rosy. In fact, the total style of writing is completely different from book to book. Neither one impressed me, but Rag and Bone especially left a sickening sweet, nasty taste in my mouth. I'm glad I only wasted money on two of his books.
Rating: 
Summary: That "1" star is only because there isn't an option for "0"
Review: This is the same character that was in A Little Death? The two "Henry Rioses" resemble each other not at all. In A Little Death, he was hardboiled, cynical and somewhat bitter. In Rag and Bone, he was all lovey-dovey and rosy. In fact, the total style of writing is completely different from book to book. Neither one impressed me, but Rag and Bone especially left a sickening sweet, nasty taste in my mouth. I'm glad I only wasted money on two of his books.
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