Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner
Big Easy Backroad
Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Martin Hegwood
Class/Genre: Mystery Private Investigator
Series: Jack Delmas # 1
St. Martin’s, Jul 1999, $22.95, 247 pp.
In Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, private investigator Jack Delmas feels pretty good about completing his latest case. He stops to celebrate with a few bottles of Dixie beer at the Comus Bar near the docks. The bartender, Barb, asks Jack to find a missing trucker. Unable to resist a pretty face even if she has a boy friend, Jack agrees to locate her beloved.
However, being a knight in shining armor backfires on Jack who was planning to renege on his previous night’s promise. The police think he is the prime suspect in the murder of Barb. Worse yet, Jack finds himself being chased by the local mob as the bartender’s boy friend had connections with mobster Ricky Dee McCoy. As he flees from the law and the mob, all Jack wants to do is kick back, go sailing, and have a beer.
BIG EASY BACKROAD is an engaging regional mystery that works due to the genuine detail that make the characters seem so real. The story line is fun as Jack seems to plunge deeper into Bayou trouble with every page. However, what makes this novel easy to like is the feel of the area as if Martin Hegwood is taking readers on a tour (by pickup truck) of the Bayou. Sub-genre fans will want more backroad tales starring Jack.
Harriet Klausner
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner
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