Blood to Drink: A Wesley Farrell Novel

Don't be put off by the title. This is not a story with vampires, it is not a horror novel. It is a mystery, a mystery in the tradition of crime fiction. Among its more important elements are a mixed-race protagonist named Wesley Farrell. Here's a protagonist with an interesting attitude, a five-year-old mystery---a shotgun murder, an attractive setting---Louisiana and New Orleans in 1939, great pacing and strong writing. I've been to New Orleans, though not as early as the time of this novel, and if this isn't quite the way it felt, smelled and tasted, it should have been. Skinner has nailed the look, the feel, the ambience that makes New Orleans a very exotic locale. This novel offers up plenty of heat, tension, a little sex, some brutality, and the constant fetid rot of crime and corruption. In 1934, toward the end of prohibition, the Coast Guard is saddled with the almost impossible task of trying to keep alcohol out of the United States. One of its officers is gunned down in the streets of New Orleans, in a murder that almost ends Wesley Farrell's life. For Farrell, sometime bootlegger and thief, his brief presence in the life of Coast Guard Commander George Schofield, is problematical, especially to Farrell. Most of his associates, business and otherwise look askance at his association, however tenuous, with law enforcement. Five years later, Schofield's brother comes to town to try to solve the homicide. He begins to turn over some rocks. His actions not only threaten to Farrell's illegal past but are troubling to Farrell's conscience. He'd liked Schofield during their brief, if violent association, and he was again bothered that he'd done little to find Schofield's killer. Larded with fascinating under and over-world characters in and out of politics and law enforcement, the dialogue rings true, the settings are correct and the overall effect is just terrific. This is a fine novel.

BLOOD TO DRINK is another fine entry in the Wesley Farrell series. As ususal, Skinner's storytelling is strong and his characterization of Farrell grows more complex with each novel.But what impresses me most is how Skinner actually makes you feel like you are in the 1930's or at least the 1930's as we like to imagine the era.Mystery buff or history buff, you'll love this book and the rest of the series.

If you're a fan of detective stories, don't miss this book.Well-plotted, well-rounded characters, dynamite dialogue, a unique setting (New Orleans in the 1930s), Robert Skinner's BLOOD TO DRINK is an outstanding book and a genuinely pleasurable read. It packs quite a punch.Wesley Farrell is at his deliciously tough best, gun wielding, knife slashing, lady kissing, put-the-bad-guys-in-the-ground.The intricate plot of gangsters, cops, organized criminals, alluring women, and crooked politicians is surprisingly easy to follow. Only a writer of Skinner's obvious skill can pull something like this off so easily, so deftly. This is one well-crafted novel I highly recommend.It is certainly nice to be able to visit New Orleans in the good ole, bad ole days.

Robert Skinner has penned another Wesley Farrell mystery for his readers. Hardboiled mysteries are not my cuppa, but historical mysteries are, and since I missed out on reviewing his last title Daddy's Gone A-Hunting, I decided to grab this one up. Even though the storyline is a little stronger than I anticipated, I'm glad I did.At the beginning, Mr. Skinner gives us a quote from Nathaniel Hawthorne's The House of Seven Gables, 1851: "God will give him blood to drink" -- and so goes the story. Wes Farrell's world is in the south; New Orleans to be exact. The former rumrunner now runs a nightclub. His sweetheart Savanna Beaulieu, back from a sabbatical, owns one in the French Quarter, but she only has a small part in this mystery. The prologue takes us to September 23, 1934, when Louis Bras and his Hot Six Combo were raising the roof at the Honey Pot. Wes thinks he's minding his own business until a Coast Guard Lt. Commander George Schofield shows up looking for an anonymous informant. The night leads to a deadly conclusion, one that will come back to haunt Wes five years later. 1939: A T-agent (Treasury agent) by the same name of Schofield shows up asking questions about George Schofield in an attempt to get some answers to that night in `34. The T-agent doesn't know Wes was with his brother that night, so Wes is in the clear, except that he wants answers of his own. At the same time, an undercover cop is killed and Chief of Detectives Frank Casey, Detective Sam Andres and Negro Squad Detectives Merlin Gautier and Sergeant Israel Daggett take to the streets looking for the killer or killers.In Blood to Drink, the reader will know who the killers are. The mystery to solve is: whom is the bone chilling, threatening voice that gives the orders. Wes Farrell mysteries are highly seasoned, suspenseful reads to begin with, but with bad guys like Mercer and Zottie it becomes an even more demanding read. The author, Robert Skinner, is talented in his ability to bring the south, during the thirties, to life. With a stroke of his pen, he creates an intoxicating atmosphere of inestimable, dynamic characters so rich in dialect and life that they ascend from his inscribed print. It isn't just a mystery; it's one of the most provocative paintings of the south I have read in a while.

In the thirties, it was easier to be white than black, so Wes Farrell, half Irish and half African-American pretended to be 100 percent Caucasian. During prohibition, Wes made a fortune as a rumrunner. Wes invested his earnings into legitimate enterprises like nightclubs and commercial properties. Just before the official end to prohibition made his occupation obsolete, a fight broke out in a club where he was drinking. Wes and a sailor managed to escape before the police arrived. His companion Commander George Schofield gives Wes a lift, but someone kills the Coast Guard officer. Wes flees the scene before the police can question him.Five years later, Scholfield's brother, a T-Man, arrives on the scene to question Wes. He wants to learn the identity of the informant his sibling was going to meet on that fatal day. Feeling a bit guilty, Wes decides to help the treasury agent. They quickly learn that a Coast Guard employee was providing information to powerful gangs. Wes intends to uncover the identity of the double-crosser if he is not killed in the process of his investigation.The fourth Wes Farrell tale, BLOOD TO DRINK, is the best novel yet in what is a fabulous historical mystery series. The plot is filled with 1930s regional atmosphere that provides the reader with a glimpse of the lives of Blacks during the Depression as well as a look at the seamier side of the era. With previous tales likes SKIN DEEP, BLOOD RED, CAT-EYED TROUBLE, and now this one, Robert Skinner shows he is a talented storyteller who makes history sing inside top rate crime fiction.Harriet Klausner