A Quarter After Tuesday (The Light Foot Trilogy #2) (Paperback)

by Jo Kadlecek (Author)
Key Phrases: quarter after tuesday, religion reporter, miracle plan, Marva Rae, Auntie Belle, New Orleans (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
As the religion reporter for the New Orleans Banner, Jonna Lightfoot MacLaughlin is a single woman looking for love and a good story. She's soon up to her neck in both. While visiting a local senior center filled with authentic faith, Jonna believes she has finally found some good news. But after a resident's mysterious death, Jonna learns that someone may have dark plans for the small community. Jonna soon receives an anonymous tip hinting at corruption at the highest levels of local government. Further complicating matters, her love life is on the upswing, as she finds herself with attention from three eligible bachelors. Now Jonna must uncover the truth about the strange occurrences in New Orleans, all while landing the man of her dreams. Author Jo Kadlecek presents the next selection in The Lightfoot Trilogy, giving female readers a suspenseful story spiced with humor and romance.

From the Back Cover
Headline: A big story's brewing in the Big Easy

With her recent move to the Big Easy, Jonna Lightfoot MacLaughlin has opened her chocoholic heart to the local treasure of fried dough and powdered sugar, the beignet, and embraced the horror that triple-digit humidity means frizzy hair forever. Formerly the number one--and only--religion reporter for the Denver Dispatch, her hometown paper, she now holds the same position at the New Orleans Banner, where the competition is fierce but the po'boys are well dressed and just downstairs.

She has yet to have a date, a front-page story, or even a good bowl of jambalaya, but all that will change when threats of a gris-gris fill her in-box. Through the maze of Orleans parish and its politics, hearts will flutter, hearts will break, and hearts will stop, but in the end, bless her heart, Jonna gets a real taste of Southern charm.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: NavPress (June 14, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1600060501
• ISBN-13: 978-1600060502
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,005,964 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Quarter After Tuesday ~ Reviewed, October 1, 2007

By	Novel Reviews "www.novelreviews.blogspot.com" (Every City, USA) - See all my reviews

As the religion reporter for the New Orleans Banner, Jonna Lightfoot MacLaughlin is a single woman looking for love and a good story. She's soon up to her neck in both. While visiting a local senior center filled with authentic faith, Jonna believes she has finally found good news. But after a resident's mysterious death, Jonna learns that someone may have dark plans for the small community.

Jonna's pursuit of a front page story leads into the heart of New Orleans varied views on religion and faith. The writing is solid and the main character interesting, but the pacing felt slow and there didn't seem to be any memorable climactic event. Only toward the last 1/3 of the book does the mystery begin to unravel and the pace increase. The villain is portrayed realistically and the ending gives hope for a third book and perhaps a permanent romantic interest for Jonna.

Reviewed by: Sandra D. Moore
[...]

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read, July 16, 2008

By	FaithfulReader.com (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

It's 2004, a year before Katrina would pound the Gulf. Jonna Lightfoot MacLaughlin has settled in to her new job as religion reporter for the New Orleans Banner, having been recruited because of her stellar work for the Denver Dispatch. New Orleans is a world of its own, and Jonna is adjusting --- learning new vocabulary words, discovering new foods and drinking chicory with her coffee.

Pushing age 30, trying to stop smoking and vaguely hoping to lose 10 pounds, Jonna eagerly awaits and actively looks for feel-good stories that will draw in readers. But not all her leads look to be as inspirational as she would hope. There's the hateful graffiti displayed on the synagogue and the historically desegregated old-folks home mystified about the death of one of its residents.

Jo Kadlecek packs a lot into her pages. It's been going on a year since Jonna has had a date, and now in the course of two weeks, three men are vying for her attention: influential real estate developer Reginald William Hancock III, local councilman Stephen Dall, and a one-time blind date in Denver --- nondescript David --- who comes to town for a convention.

It seems that part of Kadlecek's vision is to break down stereotypes that her Christian readers might have of people who hold beliefs different from their own. Augustine's claim that "All truth is God's truth" is the lens through which Jonna sees life, whether relating to her neighbors or tracking down her stories --- from the crowd gathered around the tree-bark in which the Virgin Mary has been sighted, to the seemingly crazed woman who hassles the mayor, and the letter-writer who threatens Jonna with a voodoo curse. Confident in the basics of her own faith, Jonna listens to people with respect, not with fear.

As in Denver, Jonna's social network includes an older brother living nearby, her newsroom co-workers and an apartment-house neighbor. She's a bit of a loner, dedicated to her work and not surrounded by girlfriends who gather to chat about their social lives. This dynamic gives the series a charm that seems a little offbeat from --- and less cynical than --- "chick lit."

This, the second book of Kadlecek's Lightfoot Trilogy, stands alone as a self-contained mystery, though peculiarities of Jonna's parental dynamics and eclectic childhood memories will make more sense to those who have read A MILE FROM SUNDAY. It's clear that the trilogy will end with Jonna living in New York City, looking for new stories. Oh, and isn't that where David lives?

Kadlecek notes an extra perk or incentive for book buyers: that "all royalties from the sale of this book will go to charities and ministries in New Orleans."

--- Reviewed by Evelyn Bence

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read it in 2 sittings, July 17, 2007

By	Alyice Edrich "TheDabblingMum.com" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a great book. While many think of this book as a chick-lit filled with romance, I found it more of a tame mystery with just a hint of romance. I really enjoyed the book. It kept me on my toes and intrigued to the very end. In fact, I want to know what happens next...when's book 3 coming out????