Review: House of Blues

House of Blues Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Julie Smith
Class/Genre: Mystery Police Procedural Woman Main Character
Series: Skip Langdon # 5
1995, Ivy-Ballantine, 340 pp.

New Orleans is a major character in this Skip Langdon mystery. New Orleans is a city author Julie Smith knows well, and she knows how to evoke some of its specialness. One of the things I remember about New Orleans is its smell. When I first visited the city, driving up from the Gulf Coast, we could smell New Orleans before we could see it. The city had that somnolent fecund smell of river and bayou, of natural rot and corruption. It is enticing, exciting, anticipatory. And it's here, in House of Blues.

Homicide detective Skip Langdon catches a bizarre case in which a prominent restaurateur and his family are attacked in their home. In the brief flare of violence, Arthur Herbert is murdered and three family members go missing. Kidnapped? To discover who did what to whom and why, Langdon travels from the seedy to the sublime venues of the city.

The dysfunctional Herbert family is found to be linked to what appears to be a new style corruption in which the mob has a hand. While the case coils and unwinds in frequently surprising and interesting ways, detective Langdon faces a series of personal troubles among family and friends and colleagues. House of Blues supports many threads at several levels. When the case reaches its peak following a series of sharply drawn action scenes, Langdon is finally able to deal in part, with some uneasy resolutions of her own circumstances.

This novel should be read with attention. It is not a book for afternoon reading at the beach with all the attendant distractions. House of Blues is for the night, at ease in a comfortable chair with few lights burning, the house quiet around you and tree branches rubbing softly, randomly, on the window screens in the dark. And when you've finished, you'll look up at your dim reflection in the window across the room, nod and say, "I know these people."

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Carl Brookins - RAM

Please Note: Books reviewed are usually provided by the publisher, author, or an agent. Reviewers usually get to keep the book.

Book Review: House of Blues

Please Note: Books reviewed are usually provided by the publisher, author, or an agent. Reviewers usually get to keep the book.