New Orleans Mourning (Hardcover)

In the process of investigating the murder, Langdon discovers that there are a whole bunch of skeletons in the St. Amand closet. In fact, the St. Amand's have all the high drama and dysfunction of a Tennessee William's play. And the closer Skip gets to solving the murder, the more someone tries to scare her off the case. This fabulous mystery has a great ending and will leave you shaking your head.

Although the mystery itself is quite good, my favorite parts of New Orleans Mourning were the descriptions of New Orleans. Smith goes into great detail about the history of the city, the evolution of Mardi Gras, the development of jazz, etc. New Orleans is unlike any other city in the US and is one of my favorite places to visit. It was also helpful to read the first Skip Langdon to get much needed background on how and why Langdon becomes a police officer.

Skip Langdon, as our intrepid protagonist is almost likable. One is intrigued by her stature, her outsider status both professionally and personally and her personal history. However, Smith's creation seems to make so many mistakes and have such poor judgement that at times her low esteem seems justified. Her constant jealousies are distracting and in the end prove to be extraneous.

The multiple points of view add nothing to the plot nor the mood, and when the POV is not Skip's the story's momentum comes to a standstill. The story is full of sidelines and subplots which are then dropped and never brought to conclusion.

The final nail in the coffin for me was the two dimensional, not to mention offensively stereotypical depiction of homosexuals.

I'm trully surprised this book won any awards let alone the Edgar.

Yet Skip is a likeable, bright gal who knows New Orleans like an oyster knows his shell. She is on parade patrol at the height of Mardi Gras and is an eyewitness when the King of the Carnival, upper-crust businessman Chauncey St. Amant is shot while waving to the crowd from his float. In full view of the crowd, a person costumed as Dolly Parton has shot him from a balcony on the parade route. Pandemonium!

Rookie cop Skip is quickly assigned to the homicide team on the case because she "knows" these top-drawer people. (This seemed a little flimsy to me, but what do I know about the New Orleans Police Department?) Enter the St. Amant family, worthy of Tennessee Williams. Fragile, alcoholic wife, Bitty has a tenuous hold on reality; gay son Henry who adores his mother and loathes the late Chauncey; beautiful, perfectly mannered, but oh-so-wild daughter Marcelle; and loyal family friend Tolliver, who might be in love with Bitty, but then again might be gay. This tattered, aristocratic family takes over the book. Nothing is quite as it seems, and many twists and turns take place before the conclusion. Then we have another fillip of a twist that smartly reminds us of just what New Orleans is all about.

This is an engrossing story with a few too many side stories that however interesting, divert us from the main event. Ms. Smith has an excellent ear for dialogue and a good sense of the ridiculous; some of the incidents and confrontations are hilarious. I would call this a novel with a mystery thrown in. I would like to see a "straight" novel from Ms. Smith; I think it would be a success. "New Orleans Mourning" is a fun and instructive read.