cover image The Hippie in the Wall

The Hippie in the Wall

Tony Fennelly. St. Martin's Press, $19.95 (229pp) ISBN 978-0-312-10475-7

A long-buried corpse unearthed at the site of a 1970s New Orleans strip joint leads to additional murders in this engaging and improbable mystery, the third from the author of The Glory Hole Murders. In 1991, the dead body of a male hippie is discovered in an addition, constructed 20 years earlier, to the building that had then been Madame Julie's. Homicide Lt. Frank Washington enlists the aid of Margo Fortier, formerly a stripper named Cherry who is now a newspaper columnist and wife-of-convenience to socially prominent (and secretly gay) Julian Fortier. As Margo checks out old co-workers, the corpse is identified as a youngster who had hung around Madame Julie's and even proposed to one of the dancers. Soon, however, people around the ex-stripper begin to die, and the plot turns predictable. Thankfully, Margo's breezy patter never does, as she offers observations on the Gulf war and frantically schemes to prevent Julian from being outed. Though low on suspense, this talky little tale gets high marks for entertaining chatter. (June)