title: Death of the Last Villista: A Texana Jones Mystery (Texana Jones Mysteries)
author:  Allana Martin 
description: The best parts of Martin's fifth Texana Jones mystery (after 2000's Death of a Myth Maker) are the lyrical descriptions of the setting, the gritty Texas border country along the Pecos River. When a travel writer dismisses her own town of Polvo as "a hot, dreary little place full of barking cur dogs," Texana, who runs a trading post, agrees but adds, "On a clear day the sky above is pale turquoise, the dust motes turn the harsh sunlight golden, and the shadows of mesquite leaves dance in the wind." More of this kind of strong, thoughtful writing might have helped energize Martin's plot and characterization, both of which tend to flop like limp tortillas. Forty years earlier, a Hollywood film crew came to Polvo to make a movie about Pancho Villa. A project adviser, who as a boy had served with Villa, was found murdered on an island between Texas and Mexico, and the crime was never solved. Now a television crew has come to town to do a documentary, and everybody connected to the film becomes both a suspect and a possible victim of a vindictive assailant who emerges from the mists of the past to blow up motor homes and generally cause trouble. Texana was a child extra in the film and now finds a link between her late mother and the murdered Villista. Central to the story's resolution are Texana and her husband, Clay, the local vet. Most readers will have left by then, perhaps headed for Polvo to sample the scenery.
zlib_text: Praise for Darynda Jones
  
  
  
  
  
  ‘Hilarious and heart-felt, sexy and surprising, this paranormal has it all… An
  absolute must read – I’m already begging for the next one!’
  
  
  J. R. Ward, No.1 New York Times bestselling author ‘From its unique premise to
  its wonderfully imaginative characters, Jones’s award-winning Charley Davidson
  mystery series… will continue to attract and delight a broad spectrum of
  readers’
  
  
  Booklist (starred review) ‘Jones perfectly balances humor and suspense… will
  leave readers eager for the next instalment’
  
  
  Publishers Weekly
  
  
  Darynda Jones has won several awards, including a 2009 Golden Heart in the
  Paranormal Category for First Grave on the Right and the 2012 RITA award for
  Best New Book.
  
  
  She lives in New Mexico with her husband of more than 25 years and two sons,
  the mighty, mighty Jones boys.
  
  
  Visit Darynda Jones online:
  
  
  www.daryndajones.com
  
  
  www.facebook.com/darynda.jones.official
  
  
  www.twitter.com/Darynda
  
  
  
  
  
  By Darynda Jones
  
  
  
  
  
  First Grave on the