Book Review: The Righteous Cut

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Righteous Cut     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Robert Skinner
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Private Investigator   Historical   WW II
Series: Wes Farrell # 6
Poisoned Pen Press, August 2002, $24.95, 259 pp.

Councilman Whitman Richards is a force to be reckoned with in New Orleans in the days before the attack on Pearl Harbor. He has his hands in every racket in the city and he uses the money from his dirty dealings to fill his political coffers. He’s madly in love with his mistress and plans to marry her once he divorces his wife Georgia.

Whit’s perfect world begins to crumble the day his daughter Jessica is kidnapped from her local high school. When the ransom call comes in, the Councilman learns that the kidnapper is his half brother Pete Carson, a person he set up on a murder charge years ago and thus ran him out of town. Sick of her husband’s action, Georgia goes to Wesley Farrell, a dangerous man who works both sides of the law. They had a fling two decades ago and Wes can’t resist Georgia’s pleas to help her rescue Jessica. Even though he makes himself a target from one of Whit’s unknown enemies, Wes goes to the wall to find Jessica.

The fifth installment in the Wesley Farrell series is a thrilling reading experience. The protagonist goes the extra mile to help out a former friend and in the process gains a priceless gift. There is a lot of action and bloodshed in THE RIGHTEOUS CUT so fans of cozies will want to avoid this novel. Readers of historical urban noirs will find Robert Skinner’s latest novel a very entertaining experience.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner