Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Louisiana Hotshot by Julie Smith ISBN: 0-7653-4292-8 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 19 August, 2002 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.44 (18 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Julie Smith's Triumphant Return
Comment: 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.
Rating: 4
Summary: The Baroness Rules!
Comment: 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...
Rating: 4
Summary: N'Awlins in Living Color
Comment: 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.
 |
Title: Louisiana Bigshot : A Talba Wallis Novel by Julie Smith ISBN: 0765343800 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 18 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
 |
Title: Mean Woman Blues by Julie Smith ISBN: 0765305526 Publisher: Forge Pub. Date: 01 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
 |
Title: 82 Desire by Julie Smith ISBN: 0804116997 Publisher: Ivy Books Pub. Date: 28 June, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
 |
Title: New Orleans Mourning by Julie Smith ISBN: 0804107386 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 25 December, 1990 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
 |
Title: The Axeman's Jazz : A Skip Langdon Novel by Julie Smith ISBN: 0804109540 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 20 July, 1992 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
