Book Review: Mean Woman Blues

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Mean Woman Blues     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Julie Smith
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Series: Skip Langdon # 9
Forge, August 2003, $24.95, 304 pp.

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

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

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