Customer Reviews

Louisiana Hotshot: A Talba Wallis Novel

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4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Long time fans of Julie Smith's witty mysteries will not be disappointed by this new title.

Spinning off a character from her latest Skip Langdon mystery "82 Desire", Talba Wallis, this book definitely ranks up there with Smith's Edgar Award winning "New Orleans Mourning". Talba Wallis, a self-described computer nerd, takes a job with private eye Eddie Valentino and soon becomes involved in a search for a mysterious man who has date raped a young teenage girl in New Orleans. Before long, the search becomes much more desperate as it appears that the young girl's friends are disappearing and dying.

Smith is a master of creating suspense and tension; this book is no exception. Complicating matters even further is Talba's decision to start looking for her own father, whom she doesn't remember. This causes her to reexamine her strained relationship with her brother and his wife; and her mother, Miz Clara, makes her displeasure very clear.

One of the strengths that Smith often displays in her work is her depiction of dysfunctional families and their fractured relationships. "Louisiana Hotshot" is no exception to this rule. Another strength is her obvious love of New Orleans. No other writer has ever painted such a perfect picture of New Orleans in their work; it's quaintness and strangeness can be difficult to describe on paper. New Orleans is as much a character as Talba or Eddie. Unlike a lot of other writers, Smith understands the importance of locale and local color, and she brings New Orleans to life on the page like no one else.

I, for one, hope that Smith doesn't go so long between books again...she is a national treasure, and a law should be passed requiring her to write a book per year.

This is my first of Julie Smith's books and I'm hopelessly hooked! I ran to the library as soon as I finished reading this one to check out the Skip Langdon series.....

The Baroness Pontalba is the hippest, smartest, coolest female detective I've read about in years. No ditzy, air-head here! Her relationship with her cantankerous boss, Eddie Valentino, was a special, touching part of the plot. I thoroughly enjoyed the subplots of the healing of Eddie's relationship with his estranged son and the Baroness's search for her father. Ms. Smith definitely knows New Orleans and her love and knowledge of the city shines through on every page. The dialogue was lively, sharp as a tack and captivating. I hated to read the last chapter---I wanted the story to go on and on. Ms. Smith, I hope and pray you're working on the next in a series with the enchanting Baroness!!! Thanks for a fabulous book from a fellow Louisiana native!!

She never intended to become a private detective, but when Talba Wallis saw the classified ad in the Times-Picayune, she applies for the job. Eddie Valentino of E.V. Anthony Investigations Service is impressed with the dossier Talba compiled on him and her brassy disrespect for her elders. She, in turn, feels her potential new boss is a sexist likable soul.

Eddie hires Talba sending her immediately into an investigation. An irate mother claims that her fourteen-year old daughter had sex with someone named Toes, an adult male. As Eddie and Talba make inquiries they quickly learn that Toes has influence in New Orleans as the police try to stalemate any progress the new sleuth makes. When other teenage girls vanish, Talba realizes something drastic must be done before others get hurt.

This is a different type of series than Julie Smith's Skip Langdon novels, but is as much fun. The eccentric and realistic characters bring out the hidden New Orleans while the relationship between Eddie and Talba is quite entertaining and amusing as they are two sides of the same cover. LOUISANA HOTSHOT is a smooth thriller that will brighten the reader's day.

Harriet Klausner

When Talba Wallis saw P.I. Eddie Valentine's ad for a "nerd or nerdette", she knew she'd found the day job she was looking for. After all, writing poetry as the Baroness Pontalba didn't exactly put food on the table, and few could manipulate a computer or surf the 'Net better than she. Both she and Eddie got more than they bargained for, as their meeting and their first joint case, looking for the creep who sexually molested a 14 year old girl, forced each of them to come to terms with some personal ghosts. But they found that a 50-something Italian ex-cop and a 20-something black poet can make an effective team against some powerful people willing to go to extremes to keep their secrets.

I was given a copy, and if I hadn't picked it up I would have missed out on a very enjoyable read. I may have to listen to what people have been telling me and try some of Smith's other work. The characters in this book come vividly to life, and though, for the most part, they're unlike any people I've ever met, I had no difficulty believing in them. And Smith does a very good job of evoking the New Orleans setting. There's a lot of emotion in this book, as Eddie and Talba both undergo some major personal upheavals, but Smith keeps it from getting out of control. She also manages to keep the pace steady and the suspense building even while large portions of the book deal with the personal lives of Eddie and Talba rather than the investigation. The investigation is never entirely forgotten, though this isn't really a whodunit, it's more of a "how do we stop them". Overall, this is a very good book. My only complaint is with the final confrontation scene, which struck me as somewhat predictable and stereotypical, but that's a standard complaint of mine about that particular form of resolution, and it only detracts slightly from my overall enjoyment of the book. I can't help wondering, however, where Smith will go with this series - she surely can't put her characters through much more of the kind of emotional wringer they endured in this installment. I guess I'll just have to wait for the next one to find out.

It's been too long since Julie Smith's last work, 82 DESIRE, was released. Skip Langdon fans might be disappointed to know that this is not another in that series, but rather a spin-off of the poetry writing/computer geek, Talba Wallis, who was introduced in 82 DESIRE. And not to worry, Langdon does make a brief cameo appearance in this one. The "disappointment" won't last long once you start reading.

Talba is out of work again, and answers an ad looking for a computer

"hotshot", which leads her to the detective agency run by Eddie Valentino, who isn't thrilled to find himself confronted by a young African-American woman, but against his better judgment hires her. It also doesn't hurt that during her job interview her boyfriend makes a referral and sends a client Eddie's way. The case? A teenaged girl has been date raped, and her mother wants to find the young man and prosecute. Before long, Talba finds herself getting in deeper and deeper as the trail leads to a local multi-million dollar rap recording company, and the girl's friends start disappearing or turning up dead.

Smith's strengths have always been her trademark wit as well as her examination of fractured, dysfunctional families. Talba, herself raised by a single mother, finds herself identifying with the young rape victim and launching her own investigation: trying to find out what happened to her own father. Smith does a magnificent job of getting inside the insecurities and psychological damage done to Talba as a result of being fatherless, and at the same time examines the fractured family dynamics of Eddie Valentino's clan. It is impossible to not care about any of these people, and the tension keeps mounting until the explosive climax in a Louisiana swamp.

This book is on a par with Smith's Edgar award winning NEW ORLEANS MOURNING, and a definite must read for any mystery fan. Her Skip Langdon series, beginning with NEW ORLEANS MOURNING and including such classics as HOUSE OF BLUES and JAZZ FUNERAL, is also worth a look see.

You like unusual, flamboyant, poetical, characters in your mysteries? Meet Baroness Pontalba. You like strong female detectives, willing to step in when it's required? Meet Talba Wallis. You want atmospheric, moody, exotic and even dangerous settings in your crime fiction? Meet New Orleans. Read Louisiana Hotshot.

Julie Smith, author of over a dozen good novels already, has fashioned a top-notch story with a vast cast of eccentric, often lovable, sometimes dangerous, characters and put them into out of the ordinary action. And, if the resolution is a little out of focus, it certainly is consistent in tone and true to the characters and the situation.

Poets, whether in New Orleans or elsewhere, generally don't make much money. And even with her exotic good looks, her undeniable talent, the Baroness Pontalba requires something a little more substantial to maintain her life style. She's gaining considerable respect in the avant guarde circles of smoky clubs and loose societies of struggling writers, but that respect and even acclaim doesn't pay the bills. So the Baroness, as Talba Wallis (almost her real name), cranks up her top-of-the line computer skills and answers an ad for a young computer nerd. Turns out, a small private investigative agency operated by Eddie Valentino placed the ad and Talba soon has a day job, her investigator's license, and is neck deep in an investigation of a nasty child abuse case.

Eddie Valentino is white, old, from New Jersey, and comes with an unusual family. He hates computers. Talba Wallis is black, native New Orleans, and comes with an unusual family. She's a computer whiz.

The case starts with a very angry woman who tells Valentino that her young daughter was raped at a party by a man known only as Toes. The case is complex, convoluted and you'll have to read to book to learn more. The writing, the atmosphere and the characters, as well as the story, make this an outstanding novel, great read. I look forward to more encounters with Eddie and the Baroness, mama, Angie and the rest.

This reviewer is a bit late to the game--I had not read any Julie Smith novels until somebody recommended this book. And NOW, I want to read everything she has written, "82 Desire" in particular, since it introduced the incomparable Talba Wallis, aka the Baroness Pontalba, and heroine of "Louisiana Hotshot."

How to describe Talba? Sassy, smart as a whip, clever, by turns super strong and super sensitive, hurting inside, snarling outside...a woman to contend with. And her alter ego, the Baroness? A poet dressed in the wildest, most outrageous, most beautiful finery she can find to complement her incredible poetry and her African-American heritage.

This story has Talba finding a job in a detective agency after reading the most unusual want-ad ever. With nothing but moxie and fabulous computer skills, she worms her way into Eddie Valentino's small, gritty agency, and nothing will ever be the same again.

If you have not read this book, do yourself a favor and do it! You are in for an incredible treat. As for myself, I have some major book ordering to do...

Talba Wallis is smart and sassy, on and of the scene. By night she is poet Baroness Pontalba reading her stuff at carefully selected dives around town. Her clothes are meticulously described, which is a very good thing, because in our wildest imagination, we would be hard put to come up with a mental image of her glorious plumage. And the Baroness (thanks to Julie Smith) comes up with some pretty good poetry--see "Queen of the May."

As with most poets, Talba needs a day job to support her writing. Due to her razzle-dazzle preparation, she stuns elderly white male detective Eddie Valentino, into hiring her. He had braced himself to hire a nerd, but a "nerdette"? Eddie takes her along on what looks to be a pretty ho-hum case: finding out the identity of a man who has molested the client's daughter. The situation heats up considerably when a sure fire witness suddenly dies in a hit and run accident. Running concurrent with the investigation is Talba's emerging curiosity about just who and what her father was. Her entire family seems to be in mutual conspiracy to keep her in the dark about him.

The story has a good pace and is always colorful, but Ms. Smith does tend to overplot. She has such a long stretch about her father; I almost forgot the other mystery entirely. Actually, the two stories could stand alone and probably should have. The tie-in, as always, is the wonderful depictions of the star that grabs the spotlight: New Orleans. I can't think of anyone who captures the feel of this city like Smith does. "New Orleans Hotshot" is a nice welcome back for Julie Smith.

Julie Smith has done a neat switch in this novel: her heroine is Baroness Pontalba whom we met as a minor character in 82 Desire and her usual series protagonist, policewoman Skip Langdon, is a minor character here. But as always, Smith's real star is the city of New Orleans and she lovingly portrays it again-warts, decay and zest alike. The plot here is fast moving, the protagonist bold, the puzzle possessing of enough twists to be provocatove. I think Julie Smith is one of our best regional mystery writers and I recommend the whole series. If you haven't read the preceding books in the series you won't appreciate the neat sleight of hand she accomplishes here, but you'll still have a top notch reading adventure ahead ofyou!

Sandra Wallis, aka Talba Wallis and the Baronness Pontalba, is a character you will either love or hate. Those who have read 82 Desire by Julie Smith will recognize her.

Frankly, I thought that Talba was one of the most interesting and original characters I have ever read about in detective fiction. Those who like their female detectives intelligent, aggressive, and resourceful will find Talba to be a wonderful addition.

The book's story develops from a single incident. An underage girl has had sex with a prominent man. The girl tells her mother about it, and Eddie Valentino is brought in to find the man. Eddie has just hired Talba to help him out with the computer side of detecting. Due to a series of accidents, Talba is left on her own . . . and she runs with it.

Then, just when you think you've got the story figured out, Talba starts having unusual emotional reactions at a funeral. This starts another mystery, which proves to be far more interesting and rewarding than finding the sexual predator.

My main complaint about this book is that Talba is brought along much too fast as a detective. Her feats of detection and derring-do would be typical of someone who has been doing this for 20 years, rather than having done it twice briefly. I graded the book down for this overstatement. It unnecessarily strained the credibility of what otherwise was a rich and rewarding story line.

I liked the way that Skip Langdon was brought in for cameo roles. It made the book's context wider and firmer.

The humor often comes close to being over the top, but keeps pulling itself down towards the right direction. I laughed aloud at several points. My wife asked me what I was smiling about twice while I was reading very funny sections.

The book opens with this classified advertisement:

"Nerd wanted. Nerdette wouldn't be too bad. Young hotshot, under thirty, 5 yrs. computer, 10 yrs. investigative exp. Harvard ed., no visible piercings. Must play the computer like Horowitz played piano. Slave wages."

Now, how can you fail to have fun with a book like this?

After you finish enjoying Louisiana Hotshot, think about where your "public face" is a way of protecting your inner vulnerability. Does that public face get in the way of what you really want sometimes? If so, how can you develop the flexibility to have others see you in ways that better serve your needs?

Be open to love, connection, and caring . . . by keeping your face, words, and arms open!