The White League [Hardcover]

Thomas Zigal (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2004

Blackmail, a secret organization hiding within the elite society of New Orleans, a white supremacist running for governor of Louisiana; these are the key ingredients in this fine Southern crawfish boil of a novel about guilt, privilege and racism in one of America's most exotic cities.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Zigal, author of the Colorado sheriff Kurt Muller series, sets this gripping novel of racism, justice denied, retribution and redemption in the upper-class environs of New Orleans circa 1990. Paul Blanchard is CEO of the Blanchard coffee company, a family business that allows him to live a life of genteel ease. This pleasant existence is shattered when Paul's old college roommate, racist Mark Morvant, shows up and announces that he's running for governor, demanding not only that Paul bankroll his campaign effort but that he get the wealthy businessmen from the White League, a sinister secret society, to back him as well. Paul, a progressive Southerner, tries to resist, but Morvant threatens to reveal the dark secret Paul has been harboring - his black girlfriend in college died of a heroin overdose, and Morvant helped him dispose of the body in a bayou. To complicate matters, Paul's childhood friend, Jaren Jarboe, son of beloved Blanchard family retainer Rosetta Jarboe, took the fall for the death. As in any good Southern novel, present events are dictated by the past, and colorful characters from all stations of life perform both honorable and despicable acts. There's plenty of New Orleans lore and even a swipe at a JFK assassination connection in this solidly written, adroitly plotted and satisfyingly ethics-driven tale. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

There's something very rotten in New Orleans. It's 1990, and Paul Blanchard, coffee magnate, finds his white-picket-fence world disrupted when an old frat buddy, Mark Morvant, comes to collect on an old favor. Morvant once helped Paul cover up a dirty secret and now needs Paul to bankroll his bid for governor, which has the support of the White League, a white supremacist organization long thought to have been disbanded. Even after having lived for years with the fear of what could happen when Morvant demanded his quid pro quo, Paul is shocked to discover to what degree he and his family are haunted by the past. Zigal presents a taut thriller that will keep readers guessing as he probes the moral dilemmas at the heart of both New Orleans' checkered past and Paul's contradictory character. This is a page-turner with a conscience, and it leaves some heady questions in its path. Misha Stone
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 462 pages
• Publisher: Toby Press (February 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592641156
• ISBN-13: 978-1592641154
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,467,681 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Thomas Zigal (1948) was born in Galveston, Texas, and grew up in nearby Texas City. He received a B.A. in English from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. in Creative Writing from Stanford. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Kurt Muller mystery series set in Aspen, Colorado, and a thriller entitled The White League set in New Orleans. He has published short stories and book reviews in literary magazines and fiction anthologies for the past 30 years. Zigal lives in Austin, Texas.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kept me reading for eleven hours straight on a Sunday., September 19, 2005

By 

Martin Stadius (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The White League (Hardcover)

The editorial reviews give enough of a synopsis of the plot of this fine thriller, so I will not go over that territory and give anything away. The characters are complex and real, the historical underpinning dating back to the Reconstruction era fascinating, the writing clear and forceful. Kudos to the author.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars as good as it gets, February 21, 2005

By 

Steve Bean "[e-mail]" (olympia, wa USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The White League (Hardcover)

A well-written thought-provoking thriller with a believable and logical ending. Impossible to put down. My favorite book in a long time. I thought Nelson Demile's Nightfall and Vince Flynn's Memorial Day were teriffic.This one is right up there with them, although entirely different genre, but all three make you think.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Close to Home, November 1, 2006

By 

David Zimmerman (Baton Rouge, LA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The White League (Hardcover)

A complete shot-in-the-dark to me was "The White League" by Thomas Zigal. My wife was given a Uncorrected Proof copy of this book by the author himself at the Louisiana Book Festival in 2004. Zigal is known for the Kurt Muller mystery series, but has roots in Louisiana and Texas. This well-written book tells the story of Paul Blanchard, a coffee company executive forced to come to grips with his past as an old frat buddy and "reformed" racist pushes him for support in a campaign for governor. The "White League" of the title was a powerful, white-supremacist organization of New Orleans that effectively ended the Reconstruction in Louisiana in 1874. The question posed by the protagonist and the book is "does the White League still operate today?" (or at least in 1990 when the novel is set). I raced right through this book; it's somewhat similar to a Grisham novel, but without a lawyer hero, and with better depictions of local color.