REVIEWS:

Lair of the Lizard

by E. C. Ayres

Hardcover - 288 pages 1 Ed edition (November 1998)

From Booklist , October 1, 1998

Retired photojournalist Tony Lowell's fourth adventure finds him looking for Alicia Sandoval, a friend of Lowell's daughter, Ariel. The two women met at a New Age workshop in Santa Fe. Just divorced, Alicia was terrified of her violent ex-husband. Ariel hasn't heard from Alicia for several weeks and fears trouble. Lowell thinks his daughter is overreacting, but he agrees to fly to Santa Fe and check it out. There he learns that Alicia's ex-husband is threatening her, and no one--including the local cops--seems too concerned. Meanwhile, Alicia has disappeared. Lowell's persistence--plus some timely help from a local PI and a New Age mystic--finally cracks the case. Ayres' books are taut, tense, and action packed, with a strong male hero and provocative commentary on morality and social ills. The pronounced resemblance to Travis McGee and Spenser will delight fans of those two major mystery icons. Emily Melton

Copyright© 1998, American Library Association. All rights reserved.

Night of the Panther

by E.C. Ayres

Concern for the environment, now a prerequisite staple in Florida-based mysteries, gets a sturdy workout from St. Petersburg author E. C. Ayres. In his third novel featuring photographer /private eye Tony Lowell, the author focuses on the dwindling Florida panther population. Using the discovery of a female panther and her new litter of cubs, Ayres weaves a tale of greed, prejudice and disrespect for the land.

Tony forms an uneasy alliance with a professional rival, police Detective Lena Bedrosian, when her cousin is killed. Freshwater Fish and Game Officer Marge Pappas' body was found in the Big Cypress Swamp, ``the dark expanse of the southwest Florida wilderness.'' The woman's death is ruled an accident, but Lena thinks she was murdered _ especially when the detective's higher-ups seem to close the case quickly.

t As Tony and his sidekick, Perry Garwood, tackle the investigation, they become entangled in a complicated land swap deal that has its roots in Tallahassee. ``Ten thousand acres of state land.. would become part of the Caloosahatchee Hunt and Gun Club. Which would be for the use of its members only. For the benefit of the State Land Office it would be designated as a `public park.' But the public wouldn't be invited. Ever.' And, as Tony and Perry learn, some club members, which include government officials and a branch of a militia, see little difference between animal or human prey, hunting and shooting anything they feel like with impunity.

Ayres writes with authority about southwest Florida and the tenuous hold the state has on its natural resources. The author keeps the militia subplot under control, never letting it overtake his theme. In Tony, Ayres gives the archetypical loner private detective depth and understanding. Mild-mannered Tony doesn't carry a gun and isn't particularly good in a fistfight. While he has a sense of humor, ``the hippy outlaw'' doesn't crack wise at every moment. Even when he finds himself in a dangerous situation, Tony still extends friendship toward a young man who "smells of hate, and violence, and betrayal'' after a run-in with his abusive father.

In Night of the Panther, Ayres once again proves he has a fresh approach to the genre and to Florida mysteries in particular.

 From Booklist:

 Sometime private eye Tony Lowell is ready to take his finally
 refurbished wooden schooner on its maiden voyage.  Then his
 friend Lena Bedrosian calls.  Lena's cousin, conservation
 officer Marge Pappas, has just been found dead, her
 bullet-ridden body floating in Corkscrew swamp.  Tony agrees to
 investigate, but he's managed to stir up a hornet's nest of
 poachers, local militia, corrupt sherif;s deputies, powerful
 businessmen, and even a state senator.  The steamy
 alligator-ridden Florida swamp is the perfect setting for
 Ayres's menacing, suspense-filled mystery.  The characters -
 mostly corrupt, tobacco-chewing good ole boys driving pickup
 trucks with rifle racks - are almost too perfectly
 sterotypical, but Ayres knows how to make them leap off the
 page, There's also no denying that his style and tone are as
 close to that of the beloved John D. MacDonald as anyone
 writing today.  A fine mystery.



From Publisher's Weekly:

Florida, as portrayed by Ayres (Hour of the Manatee, Eye of the 
Gator) is no sunshine state. Government shutdowns, the rise of
local militias and developers behind every tree make life tough 
and troubling for the thoughtful, including P.I. Tony Lowell and
Detective Lena Bedrosian of the Manatee police. Lena calls for 
Tony's help when she sniffs a cover-up in the investigation of 
the murder of her cousin, Marge Pappas, a dedicated game warden 
whose only crime seems to have been taking her responsibility to
protect a nature preserve in Big Cypress Swamp seriously. From such
greedy neighbors as a local militia chapter and a politically 
connected hunt club, Marge protected her bit of turf as fiercely
as the panther who has recently given birth there, with only State 
Senator Kranhower as an ally.

Ayres moves from backwoods to state capital with admirable dispatch,
but his tale needs one character on which readers can focus. Tony's
part in the proceedings is distractingly sporadic, and the action-
adventure ending seems tacked on to the carefully set up plausible
situation. Nevertheless, the Florida Ayres paints and the issues
he raises linger after Marge's case is closed.


From Kirkus Reviews:

The conventional picture of Florida's theme parks, lush condos, 
and early-bird dinners gets short shrift here as Ayres homes in 
on southern Florida's alligator-infested Big Cypress Swamp, 
bordered by hunting preserves, protected state lands, and miles
of citrus groves. It's here that p.i./photographer Tony Lowell 
(Eye of the Gator, 1995 etc.) has arrived, asked by...
Police Lt. Lena Bedrosian to investigate the death of her cousin
Marge Pappas, a Fish and Game officer, shot to death near her
camp in the swamp, the killing labeled a hunting accident.
What Tony finds is obstruction at every turn: an obvious cover-
up by surly policemen Kohler and Vega; a nastily licentious bar
owner--Duvall Patterson, with a put-upon wife and a usually 
drunken son Billy whom Tony befriends; a home-grown militia of 
anti-everything louts; and the trophy-obsessed members of the
Caloosahatchee Hunt and Gun Club, in cahoots with State Rep.
Bob Hatchcock to engineer a land steal that will mostly benefit
millionaire landowner Quention Lejeune. Making his way from one
dangerous encounter to another, with Lena's life on the line as
the end draws near, Tony finally gets to the very ugly truth
and an almost incidental killer.

A heavily detailed look at roads less traveled, a scary take 
on the lunatic fringe, some quirky characters, and an un-
flappable detective--all make the third in this series the
liveliest and most readable of Lowell's adventures yet.


From Library Journal:

When "poachers" murder her best friend, a game warden in 
Big Cypress Swamp, Manatee City police detective Lena
Bedrosian calls upon part-time private investigator Tony
Lowell for help. Florida atmosphere, a good ecological
subject, fine entertainment.




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