Jazz Funeral

Julie Smith in Jazz Funeral presents a Homicide Detective, Skip Langdon who is big beautiful and brash. She also presents a wide array of intriguing suspects in the death of Jazz Festival promoter, Ham Brocoto. The deceased himself turns out to be an interesting study for Skip as she uncovers his true personality, you may wonder why any one would want to kill him.His sister, Melody has run away and is looking for love in all the wrong places. She is a very sympathetic character and you find yourself hoping that she doesn't self destruct along the way.This is a good mystery with lots of intricate plots and sub-plots. I was guessing until the end. I loved the atmosphere and the character and the story of their lives.

Having visited New Orleans in June (my first time in the Big Easy), I was interested in a mystery set in that city. This is the second Skip Langdon mystery by Julie Smith that I've read. I liked it slightly better than "Kindness of Strangers"-- I should give it 4.5 stars. Melody Brocato is a very intriguing teenager. I hope she is included in some future Skip Langdon mysteries. (p.s. I went on a "jazz tour" that included Donna's in Treme--that was a highlight of my visit to New Orleans and gave some authenticity to the jazz scene). Whether the band is composed of African Americans like the Boucrees in "Jazz Funeral" with Rwanda Zaire as singer, or a Caucasian brass band like we heard at Donna's, New Orleans possesses a varied and interesting musical culture. If you visit, try to seek out the more authentic musical talents of the town whether traditional jazz, dixieland, Cajun, Zydeco, Creole or whatever.

This is the first Julie Smith book I have read, and I was very impressed. The mystery held my attention throughout. Her series character, a woman police officer named Skip Langdon, is very human...competent at her job, but trying to deal with a difficult boss, having her ups and downs with her love life.... The plot twist at the end came as a complete surprise to me. I will look forward to reading more Julie Smith mysteries.