In his fifth literate, intelligent, if overly busy WWII-era noir to feature Creole nightclub owner and part-time dick Wesley Farrell (after 2001's Pale Shadow), Skinner has included enough characters to stage Aida
and enough plot twists to give the conscientious reader a migraine trying to keep track of the cast. When shady New Orleans councilman Whit Richards receives a phone call from a man who addresses him as "Rico," an old nickname he'd rather forget, he knows he's in trouble. Richards's enemies have a foolproof scheme to get even for the truly rotten things he's done to them, though it's no surprise when the bad guys' best-laid plans backfire. When Richards won't cooperate with the police after his teenage daughter is kidnapped in broad daylight from her Catholic school, his wife, an old flame of Farrell's, asks the Creole to find the girl. A young African-American nebbish, the only reliable witness to the kidnapping, becomes the quarry of a fearsome hired gun, Easter Coupé, easily the best character in the book. Eventually, like Joshua before Jericho, Farrell brings the walls down on them all. Skinner's 1940s New Orleans underworld is effectively murky, while his period details and topical references are, as usual, pitch perfect. Established fans should be pleased, but others may find that there's not enough depth or development to care about the fates of any of the major players. (Aug. 15)
FYI:Skinner is also the author of
Two Guns from Harlem: The Detective Fiction of Chester Himes (1989) and other scholarly works in the mystery genre.
