Mean Woman Blues (Talba Wallis)

Rating:
Summary: one of the best police procedural of the year
Review: At one time he was the head of a church group that he turned into his own cult of personal assassins who were willing to commit any crime he asked them to do. He ran for mayor of New Orleans before Detective Skip Langdon exposed him as a murderer, kidnapper, and con artist. Before he could be arrested, he disappeared and one of his main goals has become to destroy Langdon.

After extensive plastic surgery Jacomine reinvented himself as David Wright, host of the Dallas Cable TV show, Mr. Right. He assists the poor and bewildered get help when they have nobody else to turn to. He married a woman from a powerful political family and has delusions of using his wife's family and the show to springboard a political run. He also arranges a hit on his arch enemy Skip Langdon who is determined that this time she will find and bring to justice the criminal that made her life miserable for several years.

If it wasn't for Jacomine's obsession to take out the heroine, who knows if his plan to run and win in national politics would have worked. MEAN WOMAN BLUES is all about obsession: the FBI's desire to take down their number two felon, the heroine's desire to catch Jacomine and live a normal life, and the villain's need to control everyone around him. Even though the audience knows who is doing what at all times, Julie Smith is able to surprise the readers with many unexpected twists and turns. This is one of the best police procedural of the year.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: What a wonderful read!
Review: Curling up with Skip is like a long awaited visit with an old friend. Whirl through the highways and byways of New Olreans from the gritty side to the glamorous. I'd like nothing more than to spend a few days in the French Quarter with Skip and her pals.

Julie Smith has produced another winner - better than ever!

Rating:
Summary: Last in the Series?
Review: Julie Smith has written nineteen novels in four mystery series. The protagonists are Rebecca Schwartz, Paul McDonald, Skip Langdon and Talba Wallis. MEAN WOMAN BLUES is the ninth and latest novel in the Skip Langdon series, and my gut feel is it will be the last. It is the first Skip Langdon novel that I have read, and I found it self-contained, although the flurry of names in chapter one unsettled me. Many of the characters, I realized, began their careers early in the Skip Langdon series. It would have been smarter, I thought, to have started with the first Skip Langdon novel, NEW ORLEANS MOURNING, and follow Skip's career from the beginning. Besides, NEW ORLEANS MOURNING won the Edgar Allan Poe award for best novel in 1991. By the way, you can become acquainted with the author and her stories at www.JulieSmithAuthor.com.

I have a problem remembering names, so I decided to reread chapter one of NEW ORLEANS MOURNING and list the characters, their roles and alias, and I continued to tabulate names throughout the novel. In total, I found 77 proper names for people, three for pets, plus two phony names to mask the identity of the owner of a bank account and a cell phone. Additionally, there were 28 nicknames, alias or maiden names used for some of the 77 characters. I'm not sure, but I think that's a record for any book I've read recently.

In LOUISIANA BIGSHOT, Skip pursues Errol Jacomine, a.k.a. Daddy, a.k.a. Eliza Dolittle, a.k.a. Earl, a.k.a. David Wright, a.k.a. Mr. Right, a.k.a. Earl Jackson. Errol is trying to kill Skip, so it's a matter of who gets whom first. It's an enjoyable story with a credulous plot, resonant dialogue and vivid descriptions of New Orleans and nearby places. I like Julie Smith's writing. She doesn't mess around with that drawn out, exhaustive, flowery stuff, but gives just enough for us to get the feel and smell of things, and lawd, dat girl got an ear for hows we talk down en N'Orleans.



Rating:
Summary: Julie Smith Does It Again!
Review: Julie Smith is one of the best mystery writers being published today, and this book shows why. Almost effortlessly, she manages to keep the reader turning the page to find out what's going to happen next; and her characterizations continue to be among the best out there. Her love for New Orleans shines in every page; and her description of the attacking swarms of Formosan termites is the next most awful thing to experiencing one. The subplot involving thefts of cemetery art is excellent; and the resurfacing of Skip's own version of Moriarty, Errol Jacomine, is frightening...will Jacomine succeed in his goals--and if he fails, will he escape justice yet again?
My only regret is having to wait another year for her next book.

Rating:
Summary: Another winner from Julie Smith
Review: Mean Woman Blues by Julie Smith is everything you hope to find in a suspenseful mystery - fluid prose, characters you love, and villains you love to hate. Not only does she bring people to life, but also she somehow captures the essence of New Orleans. It is as if the city is a character in the book. Several storylines weave in and out as the tale unfolds, and Smith was able to tie them all together to create a terrific mystery novel.

Some bad guys are more difficult to capture than others. Former evangelical preacher, Errol Jacomine, is back with a new face, voice and style, but underneath the pretty new fa?ade the old evils lurks. Skip is determined to bring this man to justice, and Jacomine is determined to kill his enemy any way he can. The secondary story about the theft of cemetery art added to the overall appeal of the novel and made me long to visit New Orleans again.

Rating:
Summary: Detective Langdon (and Ms. Smith) need to move on
Review: Reading established series is like visiting old friends. However, many of the series heroines we loved when they were younger, edgier and less conventional have become almost mainstream as they age, and, face it, we don't read escapist literature to catch up on folks just like us. It's welcome when the characters gain maturity and wisdom, but kind of dull when there's no risk anymore in their relationships -- even adversaries are well-known, with measure already taken.

New Orleans Skip Langdon is a prime example (Sharon McCone is another, and Kinsey and V.I. are both heading that way; Smith's Talba Wallis is a delightful exception, although she's only in two books of her own so far). In "Mean Woman Blues," we check in with our pal Skip and her friends, but they're all leading such a healthy, normal existence that the reader's real focus is on some relatively peripheral characters, and mostly on Skip's "nemesis," Errol Jacomine. The reader becomes so intent on what Jacomine is up to that the author has to keep bludgeoning us over the head with the point that he is Evil, and our sympathies *should* lie with Skip, if we can just remember where she is and what she's doing in the story.

The side story, involving the theft of statuary from New Orleans' "Cities of the Dead" is perfunctory, and I wished for a little more of the atmosphere of what must be a remarkable sight. The cemeteries are obviously so everyday to Skip and her co-workers, however, that this midwesterner is left with a rather confused image reminiscent of decorated storage garages.

Both Skip and Smith seem "stuck" on Jacomine, and I hope they are able to move on to reclaim Skip's perseverence in the face of new challenges... the old ones are getting, well, old.

Rating:
Summary: Another winner from Julie Smith
Review: The great thing about mystery series is it seems as though every year you get a visit from an old friend....it's been far too long since the last Skip Langdon novel....this is a welcome return to the series and one of the strongest titles in it...Julie Smith is a national treasure.

Don't make us wait so long for the next visit from Skip, Julie!!!