Mean Woman Blues (Skip Langdon) (Talba Wallis) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Julie Smith (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Don't let the title fool you. In this tense but melodramatic entry in Edgar-winner Smith's (New Orleans Mourning) Skip Langdon series, the story hinges on a mean man-sociopath Errol Jacomine, who, helped by plastic surgery, has reinvented himself as a charismatic talk-show host. As to women, several besides Detective Langdon figure prominently, each working herself into one rage after another. And blues? While most of the mayhem occurs in New Orleans, this Crescent City is devoid of music-blues or otherwise. Other Big Easy attractions, like the ornate statuary in the city's renowned cemeteries, lend local color, as do po'boys, levees and the French Quarter, serving as backdrop for the characters' internal lives. Without exception, these people bear deep psychic wounds, which become figurative and literal gashes as they endure murder attempts, unlawful arrests, defamation and torture. Emotional updates come as insistently as a Louisiana forecaster tracking a Gulf hurricane. Some mood shifts jar. Given to snits, con artist Jacomine repeatedly drops his guard. And when a near-comatose woman suddenly starts haranguing an FBI investigator, the scene rather than intensifying seems contrived. Likewise, coincidence looms larger than some readers will accept. Nonetheless, fans should welcome this overheated installment as eagerly as others in this well-established series. FYI: Smith is also the author of Louisiana Bigshot, the second title in her series featuring African-American detective Talba Wallis. A former reporter, Smith has recently become a fully licensed PI in New Orleans.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
The Formosan termites that infest New Orleans every May haunt police detective Skip Langdon's dreams, an apt image for the gnawing fear that her happiness will collapse. That happiness is based on the fact that her long-distance lover, a documentary filmmaker, has moved to New Orleans. Her fear is that her enemy, an evangelical fanatic who aspires to the mind control of Jim Jones, is coming back to kill her, after a disappearance of two years. In this latest Skip Langdon mystery, the evangelical is now launching a campaign to become president of the United States, a campaign he runs with skilled public appearances and contract murders of his enemies. Langdon is shot at on the street, sidelined to a task force on cemetery art theft, but unstoppable in her detective work. Smith combines a powerful heroine, creepily believable villain, and rich New Orleans setting. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books (June 29, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765344653
• ISBN-13: 978-0765344656
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #623,387 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Last in the Series?, September 23, 2004

By	Gregory Bascom (San Jose Costa Rica) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Julie Smith has written nineteen novels in four mystery series. The protagonists are Rebecca Schwartz, Paul McDonald, Skip Langdon and Talba Wallis. MEAN WOMAN BLUES is the ninth and latest novel in the Skip Langdon series, and my gut feel is it will be the last. It is the first Skip Langdon novel that I have read, and I found it self-contained, although the flurry of names in chapter one unsettled me. Many of the characters, I realized, began their careers early in the Skip Langdon series. It would have been smarter, I thought, to have started with the first Skip Langdon novel, NEW ORLEANS MOURNING, and follow Skip's career from the beginning. Besides, NEW ORLEANS MOURNING won the Edgar Allan Poe award for best novel in 1991. By the way, you can become acquainted with the author and her stories at www.JulieSmithAuthor.com.

I have a problem remembering names, so I decided to reread chapter one of NEW ORLEANS MOURNING and list the characters, their roles and alias, and I continued to tabulate names throughout the novel. In total, I found 77 proper names for people, three for pets, plus two phony names to mask the identity of the owner of a bank account and a cell phone. Additionally, there were 28 nicknames, alias or maiden names used for some of the 77 characters. I'm not sure, but I think that's a record for any book I've read recently.

In LOUISIANA BIGSHOT, Skip pursues Errol Jacomine, a.k.a. Daddy, a.k.a. Eliza Dolittle, a.k.a. Earl, a.k.a. David Wright, a.k.a. Mr. Right, a.k.a. Earl Jackson. Errol is trying to kill Skip, so it's a matter of who gets whom first. It's an enjoyable story with a credulous plot, resonant dialogue and vivid descriptions of New Orleans and nearby places. I like Julie Smith's writing. She doesn't mess around with that drawn out, exhaustive, flowery stuff, but gives just enough for us to get the feel and smell of things, and lawd, dat girl got an ear for hows we talk down en N'Orleans.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Detective Langdon (and Ms. Smith) need to move on, August 10, 2003

By	Kristi "all my facts come from fiction" (Eastern Iowa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mean Woman Blues (Hardcover)

Reading established series is like visiting old friends. However, many of the series heroines we loved when they were younger, edgier and less conventional have become almost mainstream as they age, and, face it, we don't read escapist literature to catch up on folks just like us. It's welcome when the characters gain maturity and wisdom, but kind of dull when there's no risk anymore in their relationships -- even adversaries are well-known, with measure already taken.

New Orleans Skip Langdon is a prime example (Sharon McCone is another, and Kinsey and V.I. are both heading that way; Smith's Talba Wallis is a delightful exception, although she's only in two books of her own so far). In "Mean Woman Blues," we check in with our pal Skip and her friends, but they're all leading such a healthy, normal existence that the reader's real focus is on some relatively peripheral characters, and mostly on Skip's "nemesis," Errol Jacomine. The reader becomes so intent on what Jacomine is up to that the author has to keep bludgeoning us over the head with the point that he is Evil, and our sympathies *should* lie with Skip, if we can just remember where she is and what she's doing in the story.

The side story, involving the theft of statuary from New Orleans' "Cities of the Dead" is perfunctory, and I wished for a little more of the atmosphere of what must be a remarkable sight. The cemeteries are obviously so everyday to Skip and her co-workers, however, that this midwesterner is left with a rather confused image reminiscent of decorated storage garages.

Both Skip and Smith seem "stuck" on Jacomine, and I hope they are able to move on to reclaim Skip's perseverence in the face of new challenges... the old ones are getting, well, old.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another winner from Julie Smith, September 22, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Mean Woman Blues (Hardcover)

The great thing about mystery series is it seems as though every year you get a visit from an old friend....it's been far too long since the last Skip Langdon novel....this is a welcome return to the series and one of the strongest titles in it...Julie Smith is a national treasure.

Don't make us wait so long for the next visit from Skip, Julie!!!