New Orleans Beat (Mass Market Paperback)

Geoff had mentioned on a computer network that he had witnessed the murder of his father Leighton twenty-seven years ago. Leighton had been a cop whose revolver and citrine ring were stolen at the time of his killing. Geoff was hoping to get a flashback of the murderer's face.

Skip believes the key to the crime lies somewhere within the computer network which has 10,000 subscribers. As she goes about her investigation, Geoff's girl friend and his grandmother are also eliminated. The killer turns out to be closer than we like to think although the suspects are numerous.

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I particularly liked that it was based in New Orleans and yet didn't get into all the voodoo type of mystery that so many New Orleans mysteries seem to involve. What a refreshing change. I also liked the fact that the story had several stories within a story- in other words, it wasn't just about Skip solving a crime end of story. There was the boyfriend substory and the best friend who has kids and needs help story and more. That kept the book interesting and the realistic.

There were several things I didn't like- First, this book seems very dated to me regarding the internet. The characters on an bulliton board site that had thousands of users and yet they all seemed to be good buddies, at least that is what the author would have you think. Also, has been widely used for a long time, yet for Skip this is a new thing. It makes the book seem very dated. This one thing really bothered me. I kept wanting to jump up and explain to her how this whole internet thing worked. The people around her were not doing a very good job of explaining things or demonstrating things to her.

The other thing I didn't like was that I wanted a happy ending for her and her boyfriend and that just didn't seem to happen. However, even despite that the book ends with a hint of optimism and hope.

I enjoyed this book. I'm going to go back and swipe up the other 3 earlier novels and read them.

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In "New Orleans Beat", Homicide Detective Skip Langdon is assigned a case in which an "accidental" death has too many oddities to leave it uninvestigated. The victim was a "computer nerd" who lived with his mother & stepfather in a dilapidated house. As Langdon investigates, she discovers there are a number of people who have already been playing private eye for days; these are the victim's friends from his cyber-world. In addition, an open case from the late 60's has a direct bearing on the current case.

Smith attempts to make "...Beat" hip & timely by having the mystery revolve around a computer bulletin board group called "the TOWN". This is a mistake, as it makes the story seem dated & clunky to a reader in the year 2000. It ends up not even being particularly vital to the story, except as a gimmick. The story itself isn't one of Smith's stongest, & could have taken place just as easily in San Francisco (the scene of her other mystery series). Unlike it's predecessors, "New Orleans Beat" really doesn't use the city as a vital character, which is partly the reason it isn't very successful. Personally, I feel that Smith's habit of writing chapters from suspects point of view is a mistake & in "New Orleans Beat" even a glaring plot hole. These books would be much stronger mysteries if they focused only on what Skip Langdon discovers & thinks.

Still, if you have read earlier installments in this series ("Jazz Funeral" being especially recommended) you will probably want to pick up "New Orleans Beat" if only to fill in gaps in Skip's personal story. It is enjoyable, just not particularly memorable.

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