Gossip columnist and former topless dancer Margo Fortier tries to break into hard news by launching her own investigation into the brutal murder of the ""Mystic Delphine,"" a New Orleans television psychic.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
There's both an edge of sadness and a survivor's toughness beneath the snappy patter of Margo Fortier, the 40-something New Orleans gossip columnist and former topless dancer we first met in The Hippie in the Wall, and those traits give her second outing a sustained energy. Married for 18 years to the wealthy and openly gay Julian, Margo can joke with him about whether she should lose weight or buy a girdle to attract a lover. But balancing her normal needs and her high standards (she prefers hefty, bald guys who can afford to buy her minks and pearls) isn't always easy. Margo is also attracted to such pursuits as Tarot and astrology, so when a famous telephone psychic named Mystic Delphine is skewered with the very sword she uses in her TV commercials, Fortier makes believe she's a reporter and barges into the murder investigation with all her weapons blazing. The suspects?including most of Delphine's former employees and several dissatisfied clients?aren't particularly fascinating, but the arch Margo (who discovers hidden psychic talents of her own, handed down from an Irish ancestor) makes up for them with lots of wit and compassion.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
If only the Mystic Delphine, self-styled Queen of Swords, had really been psychic, she'd have seen her killer's face long before he came at her with a saber. But when New Orleans gossip columnist Margo Fortier noses around in the case, she finds enough suspects to baffle a savvier psychic than Delphine, n‚e Margo's old acquaintance Frieda Harris. In fact, Margo's investigation seems at first all too easy. At the merest shake, potential killers seem to clatter down from every tree--from Delphine's underpaid underlings manning the office and the phone- advice lines, to the professional skeptic determined to unmask Delphine as a fraud, to the freelance hit man who plies the streets in a rolling abattoir, to the disgruntled clients whose lives had been wrecked by Delphine's inaccurate (or all-too- accurate) predictions. But when the murder of Delphine's ex- beautician Sidney Bowers, now self-promoted to ``the Mystic Sidney,'' shows that somebody calling himself (or herself?) Pluto, Lord of the Underworld, has declared open season on bogus psychics, Margo (The Hippie in the Wall, 1994, etc.) makes life entertainingly tougher for herself by setting up shop at the Psychic Research Project as a channeler in order to force the killer's hand. Forget the threadbare mystery. The real fun here is trying to pick the psychic poseurs out from the garden variety New Orleans zanies Fennelly must have bought on sale by the dozen. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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More About the Author
Tony Fennelly has been a riverfront barmaid, a Bourbon Street showgirl, a welfare worker, a stage actress, a certified astrologer, and an Edgar-nominated author whose mysteries have been translated and published in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. She lives in New Orleans.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Provoking Mystery with Style and Substance,
By paul pietrzak (Buffalo, New York) - See all my reviews
This review is from: 1 (900)-D-E-A-D: A Margo Fortier Mystery (Hardcover)
This is a wonderful book that blends the mystique of New Orleans with the soul of an excellent mystery writer. There was even one point in the book that made me cry. Thank you for touching me in such a deep way Ms. Fennelly. I too understand the complexities of the wonderous NOLA having lived there myself.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another great Margo Fortier mystery,
By A Customer
This review is from: 1 (900)-D-E-A-D: A Margo Fortier Mystery (Hardcover)
Margo Fortier has come a long way since her days as a topless dancer in the French Quarter of New Orleans. She has been married for almost two decades to an out of the closet gay man, who is the head of an affluent family. Currently, Margo is the queen of the local gossip columnists, but would rather be part of the "real" news at the paper.Her chance to investigate a real case surfaces when an acquaintance, the renowned psychic Mystic Delphine is found murdered. Margo sneaks into the case by pretending to be an investigative reporter. As Margo gets closer to uncovering the identity of the killer, she places herself in grave danger. Though she may ultimately solve the case, she may also find herself with no time to rejoice because the killer could easily target her next. 1-900-DEAD is an intriguing look at New Orleans through the off-beat eyes of marvelous Margo Fortier. She is clearly the show (sort of reminds this reviewer of Auntie Mame) that makes this novel work. The who-done-it is interesting, the support cast is fun, and New Orleans is always a pleasure, but to this book, as with its predecessor, Margo is everything. Harriet Klausner ---
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