Louisiana Hotshot

This is my first of Julie Smith's books and I'm hopelessly hooked! I ran to the library as soon as I finished reading this one to check out the Skip Langdon series.....The Baroness Pontalba is the hippest, smartest, coolest female detective I've read about in years. No ditzy, air-head here! Her relationship with her cantankerous boss, Eddie Valentino, was a special, touching part of the plot. I thoroughly enjoyed the subplots of the healing of Eddie's relationship with his estranged son and the Baroness's search for her father. Ms. Smith definitely knows New Orleans and her love and knowledge of the city shines through on every page. The dialogue was lively, sharp as a tack and captivating. I hated to read the last chapter---I wanted the story to go on and on. Ms. Smith, I hope and pray you're working on the next in a series with the enchanting Baroness!!! Thanks for a fabulous book from a fellow Louisiana native!!

It's been too long since Julie Smith's last work, 82 DESIRE, was released. Skip Langdon fans might be disappointed to know that this is not another in that series, but rather a spin-off of the poetry writing/computer geek, Talba Wallis, who was introduced in 82 DESIRE. And not to worry, Langdon does make a brief cameo appearance in this one. The "disappointment" won't last long once you start reading.Talba is out of work again, and answers an ad looking for a computer"hotshot", which leads her to the detective agency run by Eddie Valentino, who isn't thrilled to find himself confronted by a young African-American woman, but against his better judgment hires her. It also doesn't hurt that during her job interview her boyfriend makes a referral and sends a client Eddie's way. The case? A teenaged girl has been date raped, and her mother wants to find the young man and prosecute. Before long, Talba finds herself getting in deeper and deeper as the trail leads to a local multi-million dollar rap recording company, and the girl's friends start disappearing or turning up dead.Smith's strengths have always been her trademark wit as well as her examination of fractured, dysfunctional families. Talba, herself raised by a single mother, finds herself identifying with the young rape victim and launching her own investigation: trying to find out what happened to her own father. Smith does a magnificent job of getting inside the insecurities and psychological damage done to Talba as a result of being fatherless, and at the same time examines the fractured family dynamics of Eddie Valentino's clan. It is impossible to not care about any of these people, and the tension keeps mounting until the explosive climax in a Louisiana swamp.This book is on a par with Smith's Edgar award winning NEW ORLEANS MOURNING, and a definite must read for any mystery fan. Her Skip Langdon series, beginning with NEW ORLEANS MOURNING and including such classics as HOUSE OF BLUES and JAZZ FUNERAL, is also worth a look see.

When Talba Wallis saw P.I. Eddie Valentine's ad for a "nerd or nerdette", she knew she'd found the day job she was looking for. After all, writing poetry as the Baroness Pontalba didn't exactly put food on the table, and few could manipulate a computer or surf the 'Net better than she. Both she and Eddie got more than they bargained for, as their meeting and their first joint case, looking for the creep who sexually molested a 14 year old girl, forced each of them to come to terms with some personal ghosts. But they found that a 50-something Italian ex-cop and a 20-something black poet can make an effective team against some powerful people willing to go to extremes to keep their secrets.I was given a copy, and if I hadn't picked it up I would have missed out on a very enjoyable read. I may have to listen to what people have been telling me and try some of Smith's other work. The characters in this book come vividly to life, and though, for the most part, they're unlike any people I've ever met, I had no difficulty believing in them. And Smith does a very good job of evoking the New Orleans setting. There's a lot of emotion in this book, as Eddie and Talba both undergo some major personal upheavals, but Smith keeps it from getting out of control. She also manages to keep the pace steady and the suspense building even while large portions of the book deal with the personal lives of Eddie and Talba rather than the investigation. The investigation is never entirely forgotten, though this isn't really a whodunit, it's more of a "how do we stop them". Overall, this is a very good book. My only complaint is with the final confrontation scene, which struck me as somewhat predictable and stereotypical, but that's a standard complaint of mine about that particular form of resolution, and it only detracts slightly from my overall enjoyment of the book. I can't help wondering, however, where Smith will go with this series - she surely can't put her characters through much more of the kind of emotional wringer they endured in this installment. I guess I'll just have to wait for the next one to find out.

Long time fans of Julie Smith's witty mysteries will not be disappointed by this new title.Spinning off a character from her latest Skip Langdon mystery "82 Desire", Talba Wallis, this book definitely ranks up there with Smith's Edgar Award winning "New Orleans Mourning". Talba Wallis, a self-described computer nerd, takes a job with private eye Eddie Valentino and soon becomes involved in a search for a mysterious man who has date raped a young teenage girl in New Orleans. Before long, the search becomes much more desperate as it appears that the young girl's friends are disappearing and dying.Smith is a master of creating suspense and tension; this book is no exception. Complicating matters even further is Talba's decision to start looking for her own father, whom she doesn't remember. This causes her to reexamine her strained relationship with her brother and his wife; and her mother, Miz Clara, makes her displeasure very clear.One of the strengths that Smith often displays in her work is her depiction of dysfunctional families and their fractured relationships. "Louisiana Hotshot" is no exception to this rule. Another strength is her obvious love of New Orleans. No other writer has ever painted such a perfect picture of New Orleans in their work; it's quaintness and strangeness can be difficult to describe on paper. New Orleans is as much a character as Talba or Eddie. Unlike a lot of other writers, Smith understands the importance of locale and local color, and she brings New Orleans to life on the page like no one else.I, for one, hope that Smith doesn't go so long between books again...she is a national treasure, and a law should be passed requiring her to write a book per year.

She never intended to become a private detective, but when Talba Wallis saw the classified ad in the Times-Picayune, she applies for the job. Eddie Valentino of E.V. Anthony Investigations Service is impressed with the dossier Talba compiled on him and her brassy disrespect for her elders. She, in turn, feels her potential new boss is a sexist likable soul.Eddie hires Talba sending her immediately into an investigation. An irate mother claims that her fourteen-year old daughter had sex with someone named Toes, an adult male. As Eddie and Talba make inquiries they quickly learn that Toes has influence in New Orleans as the police try to stalemate any progress the new sleuth makes. When other teenage girls vanish, Talba realizes something drastic must be done before others get hurt.This is a different type of series than Julie Smith's Skip Langdon novels, but is as much fun. The eccentric and realistic characters bring out the hidden New Orleans while the relationship between Eddie and Talba is quite entertaining and amusing as they are two sides of the same cover. LOUISANA HOTSHOT is a smooth thriller that will brighten the reader's day.Harriet Klausner