Rag and bone /

When criminal defense attorney Henry Rios suffers a myocardial infarction, he utters his estranged sister's name just before his heart stops. When he comes around, Elena is with him, and within days the siblings have rebonded. Secrets come out, of course, the most momentous being Elena's revelation that she has an adult daughter she has never met. That situation changes posthaste, as Vicky and her 10-year-old son, Angel, show up on Elena's doorstep, fleeing, it seems, from the boy's father. After several days, mother and son vanish, only to pop up at Henry's door and eventually repeat their disappearing act. Not for long, though: Henry soon gets a panicky call from the boy telling him that his mother has killed his father. Henry prepares Vicky's defense, which proves harder and more dangerous than it first appears. Nava says this is the last mystery he intends to write, though not that this is the last we'll see of his acutely appealing gay hero, who has a new lover and a judgeship at this book's end. --Ray Olson

This seventh Henry Rios mystery should bring both pleasure and sadness to admirers of the gay Mexican-American defense lawyer. Pleasure because Nava is in top form; sadness because of his announcement that this is the last Rios novel. His fans may also be perplexed by the lack of explanation for halting the series. The challenges L.A.-based Rios confronts are as complex and involved as the man himself: a heart attack, a possible appointment to a judgeship, the discovery of an unknown niece and grandnephew, a new love and the most personally daunting defense case of his career. The smoothly integrated plot strands conspire to test and push Rios into reassessing everything, from the new love and the commitment it both promises and demands, to the news that his estranged sister, Elena, had had a daughter, now grown and with a son of her own. And Elena's daughter, Vicky Trujillo, and her boy, Angel, come with serious baggage. Vicky's a battered woman with a record, while Angel, who reminds Rios of himself as a child, already bears signs of a hard childhood. When Vicky shoots her drug-using husband, it appears a simple case of self-defense. But the truth is more complex, and Rios must learn a great deal about himself and his new relatives to find it. Rios's humanity and decency shine through this satisfying novel and leave the reader hoping that the author's pronouncement of finis might be wrong. (Mar. 19) Forecast: As the James Bond title goes, "Never Say Never Again," but Nava's announcement that this novel closes this popular series should spur sales not only of this book but of the previous six Henry Rios titles. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Gay Mexican American lawyer Henry Rios suffers a severe heart attack at age 49, but his brush with death reconciles his estranged sister to him and precipitates contact with a new lover. Most importantly, he meets his sister's given-up-for-adoption daughter Vicky and her young son Angelito. When police arrest Vicky for murdering her addicted and allegedly abusive husband, Henry takes her case and cares for the troubled boy. Tricky complications ensue: ambiguous crime-scene findings, possible gangbanger revenge, gay relationship issues, etc. A super plot, memorable characters, and touching prose makes this essential for fans, especially since this is the final novel in the series. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Felled by a heart attack as he pleads a client's case in court, Henry Rios is recalled to life after his heart's been stopped for nearly a minute—but what sort of life does he have to go back to? His lover Josh has died of AIDS; his criminal-defense practice seems to hold nothing but more of the same; not even the promise of a judgeship sparks his enthusiasm. Reaching out from his coma to the sister he hasn't been close to since childhood, however, is only the first step in a new series of difficult, rewarding relationships for Henry (The Death of Friends, 1996, etc.). There's his acceptance of Elena's tender care for him; the revelation that years before she came out as a lesbian, she bore a child she put up for adoption; his cautious meeting with Elena's daughter Vicky, now a battered 30-year-old on the run from her abusive husband; and the call to battle when Vicky takes her son Angel from Henry's house and runs back to Pete Trujillo. Vicky's spasmodic attempts to straighten out her troubled life are clearly headed for trouble, and only Henry will be surprised when she confesses to shooting Pete dead during his latest assault. The only problem for her lawyer is that Pete's been shot in the back of the head, and not with the gun Henry was assured was the murder weapon. Not much mystery here, but the case, intercut with Henry's own unsought romance, offers a finely compassionate study of the ways love can turn bad, and the problems in loving even when it doesn't.