The New One: Read all about NEW ORLEANS NOIR

PI ON A HOT TIN ROOF How to stop a crooked judge from framing the boss’s daughter for drugs? New Orleans P.I ., computer wiz, and poet Talba Wallis (AKA the Baroness de Pontalba) has a tried-and-true method—go undercover and plant illegal electronic devices. Said boss, venerable P.I. Eddie Valentino, would have to kill her if he knew about the second part, but he reluctantly agrees to the first. Along with guns, sex toys, and cobwebs, Talba finds skeletons in just about every closet of a household straight out of Tennessee Williams “These six characters,” Talba muses, “have already found their play—and it’s Cat on a Hit Tin Roof.” They fight, they bicker, they misbehave seven ways from Sunday. And then the judge gets shot to death. Publisher’s Weekly said, “This spicy gumbo of steamy mystery, saucy humor and piquant social commentary should appeal to discriminating crime fans.” BUY IT (Barnes & Noble.com) BUY IT (Amazon.com)

LOUISIANA LAMENT Allyson Brower, new in town and already famous for giving great parties, is found dead in her swimming pool, eerily like her fictional namesake—it turns out her so-called friends called her The Girl Gatsby behind her back. Like that other Gatsby, Allyson has a past, and it’s come back to haunt her and her children. P.I. Talba Wallis is called in on the case by none other than her just-discovered half-sister, Janessa, one of the last people to see Allyson alive. Pretty hard to build a relationship with a long-lost relative while she’s the prime suspect in a murder, but  it’s Number One on Talba’s “to-do” list. Guess what Number Two is? Publisher’s Weekly predicted that “readers will remain hooked until the killer’s comeuppance in the clever conclusion.” BUY IT (Amazon.com)   MEAN WOMAN BLUES Formerly a cult leader, vigilante, and crooked politico, detective Skip Langdon’s old nemesis, Errol Jacomine, is now Mr. Right, a Texas talk show host with a new face, new fingerprints, and big, new, nasty plans, which include the elimination of his number one enemy, the New Orleans cop he calls “devil woman.” When the girl friend of Jacomine’s son, Isaac, unwittingly ends up on Jacomine’s talk show, Mr. Right’s plans are threatened--and so is the public safety. Unfortunately, Skip is otherwise engaged, on a high-profile case involving cemetery theft, and Jacomine has a cemetery plot (so to speak) of his own. His problem is, he has no idea just how mean a woman can be. The New OrleansTimes-Picayune posed this poignant question: “What better setting for the devil incarnate than a cable TV talk show?” BUY IT (Barnes & Noble.com) BUY IT (Amazon.com)   LOUISIANA BIGSHOT Computer wiz Talba Wallis, who moonlights as brilliant poet the Baroness de Pontalba, has now become a semi-brilliant detective as well. Her second case with her irascible mentor Eddie Valentino  begins with a simple domestic surveillance-she's asked by her friend Babalu Maya to find out what's really up with Babalu's boy friend. So, as usual, Talba backgrounds the client first, and finds that on paper Babalu doesn't exist. A few days later she doesn't exist at all, and the person who should be Talba's new worst enemy becomes her new best client.  Motive is everything here-the person who killed Babalu is covering up something and it's something big enough to clam up an entire Louisiana town. Would sex and race be involved? Uh-huh. And politics? You bet. This is Louisiana, cher!  Booklist said, "Smith has perfect pitch. She can echo the dizzying obfuscations of petty bureaucrats, the rising-threat noises of cops, and the back-and-forth lazy lobbing of friendship. It's great to hear her again." BUY IT (Barnes & Noble.com) BUY IT (Amazon.com)

LOUISIANA HOTSHOT Talba Wallis, aspiring PI, isn't even hired before she gets a case--a 14-year-old won't say who her adult seducer is; the girl's mom wants him found and fried. Piece-a-cake, thinks Talba. But she's about to learn more about the rap recording scene--and what happens to girls who get too close---than she's gonna find healthy. Another problem: she's young, black, female, and smart; her boss, Eddie Valentino is racist, sexist, and ageist. What-the-heck, she loves him anyway. The New Orleans Times-Picayune said: "Teaming these two opposites is Julie Smith's stroke of genius. LOUISIANA HOTSHOT is fresh, fast, and touching--a wonderful addition to the Crescent City mystery canon." BUY IT (Barnes & Noble.com) BUY IT (Amazon.com)

Skip Langdon Character Bio NEW ORLEANS MOURNING The King of Carnival is murdered in a Mardi Gras Parade; a rookie cop (Detective Skip Langdon, herein introduced) is detailed to investigate. However, not the breezy read you might think from that description; actually a dark, brooding, gothic tale of old secrets, family skeletons, racial wounds, police corruption. The reviewer who said it best wrote, "reads like Tennessee Williams wrote a mystery." If you're new to this series, this is the place to start--chock full of history and insider lore about New Orleans and Mardi Gras. Won the 1991 Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best Novel. BUY IT (Barnes & Noble.com) BUY IT (Amazon.com)

THE AXEMAN's JAZZ A serial killer is operating in New Orleans' 12-Step Programs--what better way to be anonymous? The Denver Post said, "Smashing...NEW ORLEANS MOURNING was a tough act to follow. THE AXEMAN'S JAZZ is a wonderful, completely satisfying encore."   BUY IT (Barnes & Noble.com) BUY IT (Amazon.com)

JAZZ FUNERAL The producer of the greatest party in the state--the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival--gets a permanent case of the blues. Lots of JazzFest atmosphere. The L.A. Times called it "a first-rate book...evokes New Orleans to its last sultry aroma." BUY IT (Barnes & Noble.com) BUY IT (Amazon.com)

NEW ORLEANS BEAT Who knows who you're really talking to online? Could be someone who wants you dead. The World Wide Web at its worst. Quoth USA Today: "A peek into the sometimes dangerous world of the computer-obsessed, set in the sultry heat of New Orleans and tempered with just the right dose of Southern humor." BUY IT (Barnes & Noble.com) BUY IT (Amazon.com)

HOUSE OF BLUES A fine old restaurant family gets mixed up with an upstart casino. Unfortunate consequences. (Especially for me--I had to work in the kitchen at Arnaud's to get the restaurant stuff right.) But worth the effort--Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review: "The real star of this superb effort is New Orleans, which has never seemed more dangerous or alluring-- or less easy." BUY IT (Barnes & Noble.com) BUY IT (Amazon.com)

THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS There's one honest guy in town, and he's lying; scheming and murdering as well. The only one who catches on, naturally, is our heroine. Also, a hurricane comes to town; nice weather effects if I do say so. This book is based on an unsettling encounter I had with the late Rev. Jim Jones. For the inside scoop, see the chapter in which the reporter Jane Storey (hmmm, what a curious name) unburdens herself. "Like a good Grisham," said the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. "Taut, fast, and thrilling, but with a lot more heart and soul." BUY IT (Barnes & Noble.com) BUY IT (Amazon.com)

CRESCENT CITY KILL Finally, New Orleans gets a good police chief--and some redneck has to shoot him dead. But that's nothing--someone shoots the redneck, nobody wants to touch it, and Skip gets stuck with running down the vigilantes. Oh, yes--and that creep from THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS is back. Bookpage.com called it "a classic good vs, evil battle (in which) the intrepid heroine is forced to risk her soul in an epic war against the evil genius...an excellent novel in a superb series." BUY IT (Barnes & Noble.com) BUY IT (Amazon.com)

82 DESIRE Councilwoman Bebe Fortier has misplaced her prominent businessman husband. Detective Skip Langdon thinks it's just a small case with some big names--until something big and ugly starts to unfold. Meanwhile, a part-time detective wants to find out what Russell Fortier's disappearance has to do with her--but she can't ask the PI who hired her to spy on Fortier. He's lying in his office with a bullet in his chest. Introduces Talba Wallis, poet, computer jockey, budding PI, and heroine of the soon-to-be-published LOUISIANA HOTSHOT. "To read Wallis's poem on how her mother named her Urethra" said the San Francisco Examiner, "is worth the price of the book...very funny stuff." BUY IT (Barnes & Noble.com) BUY IT (Amazon.com)

REBECCA SCHWARTZ MYSTERIES These are very different in tone from the Skip Langdon mysteries--much more light-hearted and (dare I say it?) actually pretty funny.

DEATH TURNS A TRICK Introduces Rebecca Schwartz, who describes herself as "a Jewish feminist lawyer". She sounds scary, but she means it ironically--she just can't understand how someone with such impeccable credentials ended up representing a hookers' union, one of whose members is dead on her floor. Ick! Blood on the rug. "Library Journal called it "funny and witty, with a clever, outspoken heroine." BUY IT (Barnes & Noble.com) BUY IT (Amazon.com)

THE SOURDOUGH WARS It's amazing the things people kill for--how about a hunk of frozen bread dough? This book was inspired by the closing of San Francisco's oldest sourdough bakery, which had its sourdough starter cryogenically preserved, just in case.   BUY IT (Barnes & Noble.com) BUY IT (Amazon.com)

TOURIST TRAP Goodness gracious--Easter Sunday, and it seems there's a corpse nailed to the cross! More bodies to come, and finally a trial---after all, Rebecca is a lawyer. "A denouement worthy of Perry Mason," wrote the San Francisco Chronicle. BUY IT (Barnes & Noble.com) BUY IT (Amazon.com)

DEAD IN THE WATER Ever been to the Monterey Aquarium? You just can't see that thirty-foot kelp tank without imagining a body in it. I am not sick--when I went to research the book, the folks there told me that before the aquarium opened, they floated a life-sized doll in it, just to see what it looked like. Plenty of sea lore in this one. BUY IT (Barnes & Noble.com) BUY IT (Amazon.com)

OTHER PEOPLE'S SKELETONS This is my favorite of the Rebecca books--much darker, not half so funny, and quirky. It poses the question, What's so shameful you can't tell your best friend even if you're accused of murder? Hint: It's nothing to do with sex, crime, drugs, or cosmetic surgery. This is something really embarrassing. BUY IT (Barnes & Noble.com) BUY IT (Amazon.com)

CLICK HERE FOR BIOS OF SKIP LANGDON AND TALBA WALLIS