Customer Reviews

Big Easy Backroad

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you like James Lee Burke, you will love Martin Hegwood. His descriptions are just as wonderful, even more to the point. A really delightful read, a must.

This first time novelist is a "MUST-READ"! Written with humor, excitement, and real characters, this intricate plot is kind of like Magnum PI hits the Deep South. Hopefully, Martin Hegwood's first mystery novel is only the beginning of a delightful series of well-written and thought-out bonuses for mystery lovers. This one's "movie material"!

In Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, private investigator Jack Delmas feels pretty good about completing his latest case. He stops to celebrate with a few bottles of Dixie beer at the Comus Bar near the docks. The bartender, Barb, asks Jack to find a missing trucker. Unable to resist a pretty face even if she has a boy friend, Jack agrees to locate her beloved.

However, being a knight in shining armor backfires on Jack who was planning to renege on his previous night's promise. The police think he is the prime suspect in the murder of Barb. Worse yet, Jack finds himself being chased by the local mob as the bartender's boy friend had connections with mobster Ricky Dee McCoy. As he flees from the law and the mob, all Jack wants to do is kick back, go sailing, and have a beer.

BIG EASY BACKROAD is an engaging regional mystery that works due to the genuine detail that make the characters seem so real. The story line is fun as Jack seems to plunge deeper into Bayou trouble with every page. However, what makes this novel easy to like is the feel of the area as if Martin Hegwood is taking readers on a tour (by pickup truck) of the Bayou. Sub-genre fans will want more backroad tales starring Jack.

Harriet Klausner

As a South Louisiana native, and a big J.L. Burke fan, I have to say I rather enjoyed the "trip" to the Mississippi Gulf Coast as a refreshing change of pace! Lots of familiar locales, esp. the reference to the "White Kitchen". part of my childhood! While Hegwood does not have the fluid, descriptive passages that are so much a part of Burke's writing, I enjoyed his fast-paced story, and apparent knowledge of all things "New Orleans" and the area around it!! I haven't heard "Chef Mentour Hwy" in YEARS!!!! A good read!!!

A new addition to the PI list gives us some realism and a lot of the same old, same old. This PI goes out and works undercover at regular jobs to pay the bills. But then he falls for women who have trouble written all over them. Good writing with potential for the future.

I thought this book was an excellently written example of a well-thought out murder mystery that has a lot of real-life humor and characters. The characters are as diverse and entertaining as you would meet in any well-known author's novels. Hegwood is a must read !!!

This was kind of a dull first novel. Hegwood is, as others have noted, trodding ground made familiar by James Lee Burke. But this first Jack Delmas mystery has none of the magic of Burke. The book reads a lot like it was written by someone who was just trying to hit all the notes, but not really playing a tune. All the elements are there, but there isn't any magic, any fluency. I stuck with it once I hit the 50-page mark, but felt I had to finish it--I wasn't really compelled to by the writing. Unfortunately, I'd already purchased the second Delmas mystery, _Green-Eyed Hurricane_, before I started in on this one. Maybe that one will be better.

another one of those murder mysteries... reminds me of the childern's book, shiloh... shiloh is the main character in this book who will try and solve the case... pretty good page turning book...