Mean Woman Blues

• Book ID: 126179436
• Publisher: booksBnimble
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 3 MB
• Category: Standards
• ISBN-13: 9780765305527

✦ Synopsis

Mean Woman Blues is the NINTH book in Edgar-winner Julie Smith’s Skip Langdon mystery series."Mean Woman Bluesis Julie Smith at her mostfun and lethal." -The Clarion-Ledger“One of the best police proceduralsof the year." –Midwest Book ReviewTHE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN THE WORLD IS TRYING TO KILL HER…That would be the Rev. Errol Jacomine, crazy as a fox that just ate a loon, and more dangerous than a cell full of serial killers. She’s Detective Skip Langdon, the New Orleans cop who’s twice smashed his criminal endeavors, yet each time he’s managed to slip away. Now he’s mad. In both senses of the word. And he has the connections to have her killed—or worse, those she loves. After one near-miss and several nasty threats, Skip is driven by fear that she’ll lose the people dearest to her. Despite finding herself disgraced in her own home town (seems Jacomine knows how to frame as well as kill), she goes on the hunt for the kind of maniac with a gift for conning people and the extreme makeover to make it work.THREE ANGRY WOMEN, EACH ONE DISSED, SCORNED, AND HELL-BENT...But by now Jacomine’s madness has escalated to the point that he’s finally gone too far with too many people. Before it's over, more than one person’s stalking him, and some are women feeling as mean as their quarry. If Langdon doesn't get there first, there’ll be a bloodbath. If she does, only one person will walk away—and Jacomine’s as lucky as he’s ruthless. "Smith combinesa powerful heroine, creepily believable villain, and rich New Orleans setting." -BooklistFans of Nevada Barr, Ace Atkins, Laura Lippman, and Karin Slaughter will love Detective Skip Langdon’s pluck and charm in this action-packed psychological thriller.**AUTHOR'S WARNING: To my chagrin, I see that one reader was offended by a particular very short and, honestly, not particularly graphic scene in this book and has (rather rightly, I think) talked a number of others out of buying it. Many people who don't flinch at terrible violence against humans are extremely sensitive at the thought of something bad happening to an animal. Even if the meaner-than-Satan animal-murderer gets much worse treatment than the animal! (Well, so am I, but this is fiction.) If you are one of those people, DON'T download this book--instead write me at[email protected]for a different free book. I want you to be happy! Julie smithExcerpt:
Nearly two years ago, Errol Jacomine had disappeared, but he would not stay gone. She knew this; she had destroyed two of his careers, twice thwarted his attempts to win control over his fellow human beings, to gain a following, and to dominate. He would be back, and he would try to kill her. To forget it for a day in the woods, for an evening in her courtyard, for a moment, for a millisecond, was dangerous and possibly deadly. Jacomine's son, Daniel, had been arrested, charged with half a dozen crimes, and eventually convicted of murder as the result of one of Jacomine's schemes. He was due to be sentenced in a couple of days. How that would affect his father Skip couldn't know, but it had probably precipitated the dream. Jacomine might not even notice, perhaps having written Daniel off. She left for work feeling hunted and resentful of her psyche for rubbing her nose in it. She knew all that, and what could she do about it?Exactly what?she asked herself angrily. Later, the dream seemed more a premonition than a warning. That morning, as always, she walked the few blocks to the garage where she kept her car, pointed the remote at the automatic door (a process that never failed to give her childlike pleasure), and waited for the door to raise itself high enough to allow her ingress. Instead of the familiar rumble, an explosion ripped through the quiet morning, followed by a loudping, like a beer can hitting a metal drumFrom Publishers WeeklyDon't let the title fool you. In this tense but melodramatic entry in Edgar-winner Smith's (New Orleans Mourning) Skip Langdon series, the story hinges on a mean man-sociopath Errol Jacomine, who, helped by plastic surgery, has reinvented himself as a charismatic talk-show host. As to women, several besides Detective Langdon figure prominently, each working herself into one rage after another. And blues? While most of the mayhem occurs in New Orleans, this Crescent City is devoid of music-blues or otherwise. Other Big Easy attractions, like the ornate statuary in the city's renowned cemeteries, lend local color, as do po'boys, levees and the French Quarter, serving as backdrop for the characters' internal lives. Without exception, these people bear deep psychic wounds, which become figurative and literal gashes as they endure murder attempts, unlawful arrests, defamation and torture. Emotional updates come as insistently as a Louisiana forecaster tracking a Gulf hurricane. Some mood shifts jar. Given to snits, con artist Jacomine repeatedly drops his guard. And when a near-comatose woman suddenly starts haranguing an FBI investigator, the scene rather than intensifying seems contrived. Likewise, coincidence looms larger than some readers will accept. Nonetheless, fans should welcome this overheated installment as eagerly as others in this well-established series. FYI: Smith is also the author of Louisiana Bigshot, the second title in her series featuring African-American detective Talba Wallis. A former reporter, Smith has recently become a fully licensed PI in New Orleans.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. From BooklistThe Formosan termites that infest New Orleans every May haunt police detective Skip Langdon's dreams, an apt image for the gnawing fear that her happiness will collapse. That happiness is based on the fact that her long-distance lover, a documentary filmmaker, has moved to New Orleans. Her fear is that her enemy, an evangelical fanatic who aspires to the mind control of Jim Jones, is coming back to kill her, after a disappearance of two years. In this latest Skip Langdon mystery, the evangelical is now launching a campaign to become president of the United States, a campaign he runs with skilled public appearances and contract murders of his enemies. Langdon is shot at on the street, sidelined to a task force on cemetery art theft, but unstoppable in her detective work. Smith combines a powerful heroine, creepily believable villain, and rich New Orleans setting.Connie Fletcher
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✦ Subjects

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