From Publishers Weekly
It's a steamy August in New Orleans and a murderer has borrowed the name of the Axeman, a serial killer who roamed the city in 1919. The modern-day Axeman has strangled a young woman and stabbed an elderly man, beside whose body a teddy bear is found. The letter "A" is scrawled near both corpses in lipstick and in blood. Both victims, it develops, were members of 12-point recovery programs modeled on Alcoholics Anonymous; the killer may be using the groups' anonymity as a shield. A most appealing heroine, Skip Langdon, first encountered in 1990 Edgar nominee New Orleans Mourning , is now a homicide detective assigned to the Axeman team. Risking her life, Skip must get close to suspects, among them beautiful but ditzy Di, a New Era devotee; the very angry Alex, "a walking testosterone bomb" who writes self-help books; Sonny Gerard, a stressed-out second-year medical student; and Missy, Sonny's overmothering girlfriend. With an acute ear for New Orleans speech and a sharp eye for the city's social stratification, Smith keeps the reader's heart palpitating to the end of this mystery of unusual depth, which leaves Skip in love, confident she's a good cop and triumphant over social-climbing, tradition-bound parents.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
New Orleans social-misfit Skip Langdon (New Orleans Mourning, 1990) postpones her vacation from homicide when the ``Axeman'' writes the police and taunts them about two murders he has committed. Both victims belonged to several 12-step recovery programs, so Skip and her fellow officers attend meetings, swipe membership phone lists, and finally concentrate on two group participants--Di, once up on charges for child abuse, and Alex, a randy psychiatrist once accused of assault. Another murder occurs before Skip and sharp-tongued police-shrink Cindy Lou realize that Di is being framed. By then, however, Axeman has taken Alex hostage, and the two women must talk the killer into giving himself up. Cruel swipes at 12-step concepts and an unlikely meeting between Skip and her mother at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting undercut Smith's deft skewering of southern mannerisms and standards for womanhood. Still, this is a more polished work than Mourning, and Cindy Lou a more interesting heroine than Skip. --
Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
