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New Orleans Mourning: A Gripping Police Procedural Thriller (The Skip Langdon Series Book 1) by [Julie Smith]

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Julie Smith

New Orleans Mourning: A Gripping Police Procedural Thriller (The Skip Langdon Series Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Julie Smith (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

967 ratings

Book 1 of 11: The Skip Langdon Series

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Winner of the 1991 Edgar Allan Poe Award for best novel and the FIRST mystery in the highly acclaimed Skip Langdon series, New Orleans Mourning falls deliciously between the psychological suspense of Laura Lippman and the delicate drama of Tennessee Williams.

"Smith is a gifted writer." –Washington Post Book World

MURDER, MARDI GRAS--AND MORE SECRETS THAN BEADS...

It's Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and civic leader and socialite Chauncey St. Amant has been crowned Rex, King of Carnival. But his day of glory comes to an abrupt and bloody end when a parade-goer dressed as Dolly Parton guns him down. Is the killer his aimless, promiscuous daughter Marcelle? Homosexual, mistreated son Henry? Helpless, alcoholic wife Bitty? Or some unknown player? Turns out the king had enemies...

Enter resourceful heroine Skip Langdon, a rookie police officer and former debutante turned cynic of the Uptown crowd. Scouring the streets for clues, interviewing revelers and street people with names like Jo Jo, Hinky, and Cookie, and using her white glove contacts, the post-deb rebel cop encounters a tangled web of brooding clues and ancient secrets that could mean danger for her—and doom for the St. Amants.

Langdon, with her weight worries, insecurities, and yet overall toughness has long been a favorite of those who like their female sleuths bold, smart, and refreshingly human.

“Smith finds secrets and potential in nearly all corners of New Orleans.” –NPR

"Julie Smith writes like jazz should sound—cool, complex, and penetrating right to the heart.” -Val McDermid, best-selling author of the Tony Hill series

"Though her plot careens with as many twists and turns as a car chase through the French Quarter, it is Smith's rotating focus on the complex viewpoints of her fully formed characters that gives her sixth novel its psychological and emotional depth ... [A] rich, tightly structured narrative." -Publishers Weekly

"Murder at the Mardi Gras and the flavor of New Orleans ... Old secrets are highlighted in this wonderful story that is as filled with topical information as it is with a great story about murder and history. Smith writes with authority about her city." -Ocala Star Banner

Fans of Ace Atkins, Tana French, Sue Grafton, and Marcia Muller will love Skip Langdon’s pluck and charm.

Print length

401 pages
Language

English
Publication date

December 29, 2013
File size

3139 KB
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Though her plot careens with as many twists and turns as a car chase through the French Quarter, it is Smith's rotating focus on the complex viewpoints of her fully formed characters that gives her sixth novel its psychological and emotional depth. On Mardi Gras, civic leader and socialite Chauncey St. Amant is about to be crowned Rex, King of Carnival, when someone costumed as Dolly Parton shoots him dead from his best friend's balcony overlooking the parade. Is the killer aimless, promiscuous daughter Marcelle? Homosexual, mistreated son Henry? Helpless, alcoholic wife Bitty? Female rookie cop Skip Langdon uncovers a cast of intriguing characters, all as much Chauncey's victims as they are suspects in his murder, most of them inhabiting a "poison garden of corruption" and substance abuse where it's not just on Mardi Gras that everyone wears a mask. Praised for the local color she delivered in Huckleberry Fiend and Tourist Trap (set in San Francisco), Smith has researched the Big Easy exhaustively. While she does not paint its hues or diffuse its smells as vividly as she dissects its social strata, review getting wordy, tho well written/mc her rich, tightly structured narrative more than compensates.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Amazon.com Review

It's Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and after spending most of his life trying to reach high society, Chauncy St. Amant has been crowned Rex, King of Carnival. But his day of glory comes to an abrupt and bloody end when a party-goer dressed as Dolly Parton guns him down. Skip Langdon, a rookie police officer and former debutante turned cynic of the uptown crowd, is assigned to the case. Scouring the streets for clues, interviewing revelers and street people with names like Jo Jo, Hinky and Cookie, and using her white glove contacts, the post-deb rebel cop comes up with a motive for murder that surprises even herself. New Orleans Mourning won the 1991 Edgar Award for best mystery novel. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

ASIN : B007W97WJY
Publisher : booksBnimble (December 29, 2013)
Publication date : December 29, 2013
Language : English
File size : 3139 KB
Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 401 pages
Lending : Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #255,912 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #2 in New Orleans Travel Guides
- #1,426 in Women's Detective Fiction
- #4,897 in Police Procedurals (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
967 ratings

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David A. Freas

This is NOT a mystery.

Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2017

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Let’s establish that up front. This is a book about a highly messed-up group of people. That one of them gets murdered is only a minor part of the story.

This book opens with a 3-page prolog about the history of Mardi Gras followed by a 13-page introduction to the victim’s family (and what an obnoxious, self-centered crew they are!) – a very un-exciting way to start a mystery. I almost dumped this book at that point. But to be fair to Ms. Smith because I’ve never read any of her work, I plodded on.

Finally on page 16, Skip Langdon appears. And she’s as lame as everyone else – not how readers want their main character to be. Especially when that character is a cop. We want cops to be self-confident or at least want them to believe they can handle anything that comes their way. Skip can’t even manage to say hello to anyone without slogging through a morass of insecurity first.

Almost 100 pages into the story and I can’t say I like or have even developed the least bit of affinity for any of the primary characters. They’re mostly annoying except for a few who are so bland they are almost invisible. Some minor characters are much more engaging.

Ms. Smith jumps the storyline ahead and back frequently – sometimes a short leap, sometimes a long one – and each one threw me for a second and broke up the flow of the novel. Many of them were long, rambling backstories that read more like stream of consciousness essays than linear narratives, makes it even worse. She also wastes too many words over-describing New Orleans, slowing the story down even more.

I plodded through to the end, where there was no resolution, just an ending.

I rated this book one star, but the truth is I couldn't even muster that much feeling for it. It did absolutely nothing for me.
I won’t be plodding through any more of Ms. Smith’s books.

18 people found this helpful

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The Gentleman Hobo

It was OK

Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2014

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I can understand the rationale of those who gave it one or two stars, but not the venom and latent seething that existed in so many of their "reviews." Take a breath people. I get you didn't like it and were out a few bucks, but save that venom for one of the big-time authors who quit trying but still expect $10-$12 per book. But I digress.

This story does drag dreadfully at times, but even with that, there is a feeling of a kissing-cousin relationship to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Perhaps this is because Ms. Smith lived in Savannah for a time? Those who claim they figured out the killer right away are being disingenuous. They simply decided who they thought it was and got it right, but that is like picking red on the roulette tablet. Sometimes it will be right, but not because the bettor (or in this case) the reader had any insight. This doesn't mean that Ms. Smith flung about any red herrings, on the contrary she kept most of the facts very close to the vest and slowly teased them out. Once the story got going, about a third of the way through, it flowed pretty well. I didn't find anything hard to swallow or reason to suspend reality, it was pretty solid, if a bit dull at times.

I did find some of the reviewer comments concerning her understanding (or lack thereof) of N.O. Law enforcement and her handling of her homosexual characters kind of amusing. Ms. Smith may not be an entirely politically correct author, but she got those parts right in the environment she was writing. It is a different city and a different culture, but more to the point, the book wasn't written in 2014, rather in the 1980's I believe (from her afterward), which also answered the nagging question about why no cell phones.

I might try another of Ms. Smith's books, but while this one was okay, it didn't really scratch any of my itches. Not quite fast enough, characters, other than the protagonist, not that engaging, and not the right time for a location piece.

56 people found this helpful

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Beccajay

Depressing!

Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2016

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This was a depressing story. Drugs, alcohol, prostitution, cops, murder...sounds like it ought to be exciting huh? All the characters were miserable. Everybody's lives were totally screwed up. And nobody had a happy ending. Never read anything like it. And full of grammatical and typographical errors. No sure how I managed to finish it. And there was no mystery, at least not for me....I knew who did it, all of it. I apologize to the author for my negative review, but I really can't say anything good about it.

21 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

john

not impressive as a crime mystery

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 28, 2020

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I was not very impressed with this as a crime thriller, I read it as I very much enjoy the life and atmosphere of the unique city of New Orleans. The city life was well described, and also the people and customs ingrained in this city well documented. Now to get to the story and characters, a disappointment, who murdered Chauncey and why didn't seem to bother me too much, as I had no affection or any type of feeling for this character so couldn't care less why or what reason he was murdered. Now who murdered him was much the same as I couldn't care who or for what reason, it transpired as the reason when the old coloured gene plot came into question. The mystery baby and later stylish prostitute was thrown at you in a much contrived way as it didn't seem to matter as she was such a not too developed character, as to give a second thought. The others Bitty and Henry were such wishy washy characters as not to matter. Skip was just O.K. to tag along with, but tiresome at times also. Not my type of crime thriller.

Vicuña

Meaty, beefy, big and bouncy and that's just the lead cop!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 16, 2012

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This is a larger than life book. The cop is unusual, a big girl in a big city at Mardi Gras. And right from the start, the noise, colour and energy of the event leaps off the page. There's a murder in the midst of this and Ms Smith's narrative technique of viewing events from the perspective of a number of different characters is intriguing and works incredibly well. Potential suspects are established early on in the story. We learn their story and we can see what makes them tick. The reader understands that any one of a number of people could have the means and motivation to commit murder. The plot takes the reader a long route to the end. The life and smells of New Orleans are describd with energy and that make this a rich and rewarding read. The plot is complex enough to keep you guessing. And the lead cop is entertaining, occasionally sardonic but overall, perceptive and plausible. Loved the setting; it brought back happy memories of the Big Ol Easy and a happy time there. This is an author whose works are new to me, really enjoyed it and will read more in the series. Thanks Ms Smith.

5 people found this helpful

madforbooks

Love Skip Langdon

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 23, 2016

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Admittedly I found the beginning of the book a bit tedious - not sure if I was going to like it. But I loved the detective Skip Langdon, and I have been hooked ever since reading the whole Skip Langdon series so far. Skip is insecure but lovable, she means well and has an impeccable moral compass. I have not been able to resist and read all the books in the series. If you like crime fiction, this is a lovely series. Alongside I learnt quite a bit about Louisiana and New Orleans. Highly recommended!!!

One person found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Rubbish

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 14, 2017

Verified Purchase

Rubbish. I have read other books by this author and loved them but this was a disaster. She could not decide if it was a mystery, a thriller, a romance, a travel book about New Orleans, a history or what. It ended up a total jumble not satisfying any of the potential. Even the basic story was unsatisfactory, confusing with a lousy ending.

Kindle Customer

I read about two thirds of this book and finally ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 27, 2017

Verified Purchase

I read about two thirds of this book and finally gave up. Very little action, a lot of self doubt from the main character and the family in which the murder involved not worth an emotional empathy or interest. Blah.

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