Gumbo Limbo: An Alex Rutledge Mystery [Hardcover]

Tom Corcoran (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 13, 1999

Alex Rutledge, freelance and part-time Key West crime scene photographer, awakes to his first day off in months. Late August, the off-season, the dog days. Everything's okay until his phone rings. His old navy buddy, Zack Cahill, now a successful Chicago banker, is in town and, at 8:00 a.m., drunk in Sloppy Joe's. Zack demands that Rutledge join him for a celebratory beer. When Alex arrives at the bar, eight minutes later, Cahill is gone.

The day continues downhill. A high-noon murder in the tourist district, the ransacked apartment of a local bartender, and the chance encounter of Abby Womack, Cahill's ex-mistress, combine to convince Alex that Zach Cahill's disappearance may be linked to all of these events. An overnight fire and a drive-by shooting the next morning amplify the strangeness and danger.

By calling in favors from a crew of Key West characters, stepping aside of law enforcement, and traveling to New Orleans in an attempt to help his friend, Rutledge will fall deep into a mysterious range war, a fight for the profits from a twenty-year-old smuggling deal.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The sharpest nose in the mystery business must belong to Corcoran: on almost every page of his smart second book featuring Key West crime scene photographer Alex Rutledge (after 1998's The Mango Opera), there's an olfactory imageAfrom the rot in Alex's yard to the smell of a woman in his bed. All the other senses are addressed vigorously, too, as Rutledge offers a street-by-street tour of the lively town at the end of America, with a side trip to the seedier parts of New Orleans. Corcoran is so slick he can suck in the reader with the corniest of plot clich?s: an urgent phone call from an old Navy buddy who then disappears, leaving behind a trail of dead bodies. Was financial wizard Zack Cahill kidnapped from his barstool at Sloppy Joe's because he knew about the huge payoff of a long-ago drug deal? Or is Cahill himself part of the scam? Why is Zack's ex-mistress in Key West, and who wants her dead? What part does the tantalizing police officer Teresa Barga play in the drama? And will Alex's friendly foe, Key West's cop Chicken Neck Liska, succeed in his run for sheriff? Corcoran lubricates his tangled plot with lashings of rum and beer and keeps it moving across a shrewdly observed landscape that reeks with authenticity. The gumbo is spicy, the limbo swift in this hot pepper of a novel. Author tour. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Key West freelance photographer Alex Rutledge (The Mango Opera) hurries to meet a long-time banker buddy visiting from Chicago, but when he reaches the bar, his friend has disappeared. Alex grows worried when he subsequently recognizes a murder victim as a thug he saw at the same bar. The bad vibes continue after the banker's ex-mistress shows up asking for help: some apparently shady "investment" deal has gone bad. Alex dodges dangerAe.g., arson, burglary, and attempted murderAto find his friend. The colorful Florida background, a laid-back protagonist, and Corcoran's easy-to-read prose provide a welcome escape.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 293 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (September 13, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312241941
• ISBN-13: 978-0312241940
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #969,190 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I will read for gumbo, October 17, 1999

By 

Ron Uselton (Sherman, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gumbo Limbo: An Alex Rutledge Mystery (Hardcover)

In all fairness, I need to say at the outset that 1) I am a dedicated Parrot Head; 2) I love Key West, even if I would be considered a black socked tourist; and 3) given the choice, I only read So. Fla. mysteries. With those caveats, I tell you that I loved the book and will buy every future novel that Tom Corcoran writes. He is more realistic than Hiassen and moves a lot faster than Shames. His characters are cut out of true conch shells, although there may have been a few too many of them at times (especially after a couple of Barbancourts). What is best about the book, however, are his little pearls of wisdom, dropping out of the sky like Buffett lyrics, about life and death and past and current loves. He's as close to McDonald as any living author has achieved.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars what tangled webs we weave, January 11, 2005

By 

carb101 "carb101" (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gumbo Limbo: An Alex Rutledge Mystery (Alex Rutledge Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Enoyable, but needlessly complicated with an excess of characters. As I was reading the final two chapters, my attention began to drift, simply because the plot was so convuluted that it defied my ability to keep up with the who's who list.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a lesser effort, May 29, 2009

By 

John Bowes (Oxford, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gumbo Limbo: An Alex Rutledge Mystery (Alex Rutledge Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

The "mystery" is not the reason to read this one. The insight and commentary on the Key West scene is the gem here. Maybe the next one will be better.