From Publishers Weekly
Everybody loved easygoing Hamson Brocato, producer of the successful New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, but even so he ended up stabbed to death in his kitchen the night of his own JazzFest party. NOPD detective Skip Langdon, Smith's spunky heroine last seen in New Orleans Mourning, gets a ready-made suspect list from the victim's live-in lover, singing star Ti-Belle Thiebaud. Included are Ariel Bruge, Ham's assistant, apparently a woman scorned; his father George, enmeshed with family members in a bitter disagreement over the family's fast food ("Poor Boy's Po' Boys") chain; and Patty, the stepmother Ham was cool about. Skip notes the list's omissions: Ti-Belle herself (often heard arguing with Ham at the top of her powerful voice) and Melody, Ham's teenaged half-sister who vanished the same day Ham died. Skip doesn't miss much as she probes the victim's tangled relationships, remaining all the while a consistently convincing character herself, grumbling about her boss and anxious about her long-distance significant other. Smith's Big Easy setting is a lively blend of big city and gossipy small town. Author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Library Journal
This sequel to The Axeman's Jazz (Thomas Dunne, 1991) also takes place in a recognizably atmospheric setting and calls upon a similar theme. On the eve of the New Orleans Jazz Fest, series heroine Detective Skip Langdon discovers the dead body of one of its staunchest supporters, the part-owner of a restaurant chain and the lover of a fast-rising black blues singer. To make matters worse, the victim's teenage half-sister, who may hold the key to the case, has disappeared. A super protagonist, well-defined characters, and musical highlights make this essential. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 1/93.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
