Just Enough Light to Kill: A Fiddler Novel

Fiddler and Fiora Mystery #4

by A.E. Maxwell

It's his ex-wife and current lover Fiora who breaks the news to Fiddler that an American customs agent who once saved his life has died a suspicious death on the U.S.-Mexican border. Owing this guy a big favor, the handsome, hard-edged P.I. heads south to see what his unique combination of bribery, charm, intimidation, and muscle can turn up - with his nine-millimeter Detonics for backup, of course.

Following a bloody trail that leads unsurprisingly to Fiora, Fiddler backtracks to a bunk in sunny California. Suddenly Fiora is also very vulnerable, thanks to an enemy from their past who, despite Fiddler's best efforts, refuses to die.

Genres: Mystery, Romance, Mystery Thriller

254 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
(1)
collaboration of Ann Maxwell and Evan Maxwell

also aka Lowell Charters, Elizabeth Lowell, and Annalise Sun

Reviews

[Pam]

Timely mystery set on the Mexican/American border detailing human smuggling and a Soviet intelligence officer.

[Denise Spicer]

This Fiddler and Fiora mystery, written in 1988, deals with illegal activities along the Mexican border. Bigtime human smuggling, lots of action, violence, and clever maneuvers amongst those who enable the invasion and those who attempt to stop or curtail it.

[LJ]

JUST ENOUGH LIGHT TO KILL - Ex
Maxwell, A.E. - 4th in series

In sunny southern California living is easy. And in Mexico, when you mess with the wrong folks, dying is easy too--as sexy, savvy RI. Fiddler finds out when he heads down to Tijuana. When a U.S. Customs agent who saved his life is killed, Fiddler heads south of the border with some unpleasant questions for some decidedly unpleasant people. Suddenly, he's at the top of the Tijuana hit parade, a target of smugglers, banditos, and the shadowy El Cojo, a blast from Fiddler's past. The trail of greed and deception leads him to a bank in Newport Beach and his voluptuous ex-wife, Fiora--and Fiddler's going to need her wiles to outfox El Cojo, who's marked him for death and won't let borders stand in his way.

I love this series.

[Lynn Pribus]

This book is old enough to vote. Someone at my gym is clearly emptying shelves of old mysteries. This one moved right along with shenanigans between Chula Vista and Tijuana.

Fiddler, the intrepid P.I. put me in mind of Travis McGee. He is more or less living with his ex-wife and there are the requisite interesting characters including Benny who is an electronics expert and uses a wheelchair. The electronics, of course, are also old enough to vote.

Moves along nicely and is written with words of more than two syllables with the occasional diversion into nearly literary flights of wordage.

[Kim]

I'm not a huge fan of the border stories and the Mexican bandits. Perhaps that's because we live close enough to that reality that I hear some of it on the news. Regardless, while this might have been a good book, I was too turned off by this theme that I ended up not reading more than a few chapters in and putting aside for good.

[Kerry]

Good leading character with plausible storyline

[Katie Murphy]

Loved it

Fiona and Fiddler are fantastic. Wish there were more than 7 in this series! Elizabeth Lowell has written many books, but none like this series. Am crazy for them!

[Misti]

Another good book in the series, however, since I've been binge reading and re-reading A.E. Maxwell & Ann Maxwell & Elizabeth Lowell (all the same person plus a husband co-writer) for quite a few books now, I think I better take a break. But then...I'll be back for book 5.

[Ashleigh]

Named by TIME magazine as one of the best suspense novels of the year “Fiddler is to California what Spenser is to Boston and Travis McGee is to Florida. Tough, smart guys who know that sometimes, what looks like paradise, is pure hell.”—Paul Levine, best-selling author of Illegal “Maxwell’s work is engaging and wonderfully articulated.”—Robert B. Parker “Maxwell’s style is sexy and hard-hitting.”—Publishers Weekly Back in print, the fourth Fiddler & Fiora crime novel. When an American customs agent who once saved Fiddler’s life dies suspiciously on the US-Mexican border, Fiddler heads south to look into the death.