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Skip Langdon #1
New Orleans Mourning
It's Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and civic leader and socialite Chauncy St. Amant has been crowned Rex, King of Carnival. But his day of glory comes to an abrupt and bloody end when a parade-goer dressed as Dolly Parton guns him down. Is the killer his aimless, promiscuous daughter Marcelle? Homosexual, mistreated son Henry? Helpless, alcoholic wife Bitty? Or some unknown player? Turns out the king had enemies...
Enter resourceful heroine Skip Langdon, a rookie police officer and former debutante turned cynic of the Uptown crowd. Scouring the streets for clues, interviewing revelers and street people with names like Jo Jo, Hinky, and Cookie, and using her white glove contacts, the post-deb rebel cop encounters a tangled web of brooding clues and ancient secrets that could mean danger for her—and doom for the St. Amants.
Enter resourceful heroine Skip Langdon, a rookie police officer and former debutante turned cynic of the Uptown crowd. Scouring the streets for clues, interviewing revelers and street people with names like Jo Jo, Hinky, and Cookie, and using her white glove contacts, the post-deb rebel cop encounters a tangled web of brooding clues and ancient secrets that could mean danger for her—and doom for the St. Amants.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
1,970 people are currently reading
2,854 people want to read
About the author
Julie Smith
267books396followersAuthor of 20 mystery novels and a YA paranormal adventure called BAD GIRL SCHOOL (formerly CURSEBUSTERS!). Nine of the mysteries are about a female New Orleans cop Skip Langdon, five about a San Francisco lawyer named Rebecca Schwartz,two about a struggling mystery writer named Paul Mcdonald (whose fate no one should suffer) and four teaming up Talba Wallis, a private eye with many names, a poetic license, and a smoking computer, with veteran P.I. Eddie Valentino.
In Bad GIRL SCHOOL, a psychic pink-haired teen-age burglar named Reeno gets recruited by a psychotic telepathic cat to pull a job that involves time travel to an ancient Mayan city. Hint:It HAS to be done before 2012!
Winner of the 1991 Edgar Allen Poe Award for best novel, that being NEW ORLEANS MOURNING.
Former reporter for the New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE and the San Francisco CHRONICLE.
Recently licensed private investigator, and thereon hangs a tale.
Resident of New Orleans, Louisiana
In Bad GIRL SCHOOL, a psychic pink-haired teen-age burglar named Reeno gets recruited by a psychotic telepathic cat to pull a job that involves time travel to an ancient Mayan city. Hint:It HAS to be done before 2012!
Winner of the 1991 Edgar Allen Poe Award for best novel, that being NEW ORLEANS MOURNING.
Former reporter for the New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE and the San Francisco CHRONICLE.
Recently licensed private investigator, and thereon hangs a tale.
Resident of New Orleans, Louisiana
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 330 reviews
December 19, 2012
This is the first in the Skip Langdon series. This first book was published in 1990. So, there is no modern technology involved in solving the case, just good old fashioned leg work.
Chauncey St. Amants, the King of the Carnival, is killed during the Mardi Gras parade by someone dressed as Dolly Parton.
Having grown up in the same circles as the upper-crust family , the St. Amants, Skip Langdon is assigned to homicide for a little while so she can get a little insider gossip.
Skip has gone against her family's wishes by becoming a cop and has her own bitter feelings about her family. So, it is easy for her to relate to some members of the St. Amant family.
As with a lot of old money families there are old scandals and shocking secrets. Since Skip has been shut out by the two homicide detectives working the case, she sets out on her own and works the investigation from an entirely different angle..... and someone tries to scare her off.
Skip is not the tough talking old school detective type, and she is not the typical cop. She's tall and carries a little weight. She follows her own rules, but tries to do the right thing, however unorthodox it may seem. Skip's private thoughts were funny, as that's the way most of us feel when talking to people we know are full of it. Her relationship with Steve was hard for me to figure out. I wasn't sure if she would stick it out with him or not, although I know he wanted to stay with her. I would like to think that someday we will get an update on some of the characters in this book. I'd like to see where they all ended up.
This book was nothing like the other series by Julie Smith that I read. This book is much grittier and darker. I thought I had things figured out a few times, only to find I was wrong. Then I thought I was right again, then no. It was back and forth for long time. The ending was a shocker. I felt just like Skip did! But, it was also really believable.
I am looking forward to reading more in this series. Over all I give this one an A
Chauncey St. Amants, the King of the Carnival, is killed during the Mardi Gras parade by someone dressed as Dolly Parton.
Having grown up in the same circles as the upper-crust family , the St. Amants, Skip Langdon is assigned to homicide for a little while so she can get a little insider gossip.
Skip has gone against her family's wishes by becoming a cop and has her own bitter feelings about her family. So, it is easy for her to relate to some members of the St. Amant family.
As with a lot of old money families there are old scandals and shocking secrets. Since Skip has been shut out by the two homicide detectives working the case, she sets out on her own and works the investigation from an entirely different angle..... and someone tries to scare her off.
Skip is not the tough talking old school detective type, and she is not the typical cop. She's tall and carries a little weight. She follows her own rules, but tries to do the right thing, however unorthodox it may seem. Skip's private thoughts were funny, as that's the way most of us feel when talking to people we know are full of it. Her relationship with Steve was hard for me to figure out. I wasn't sure if she would stick it out with him or not, although I know he wanted to stay with her. I would like to think that someday we will get an update on some of the characters in this book. I'd like to see where they all ended up.
This book was nothing like the other series by Julie Smith that I read. This book is much grittier and darker. I thought I had things figured out a few times, only to find I was wrong. Then I thought I was right again, then no. It was back and forth for long time. The ending was a shocker. I felt just like Skip did! But, it was also really believable.
I am looking forward to reading more in this series. Over all I give this one an A
July 6, 2020
I thought a murder mystery during Mardi Gras where the killer is dressed as Dolly Parton would be entertaining.
And so it was - in parts.
I enjoyed the background information on New Orleans, a city that has always seems so exotic to me. And I liked Skip and her boyfriend Steve, and found Skip's struggles with her body image interesting.
The story had an action packed finale that took my breath away. I really wasn't expecting it, but Ms Smith had left the clues there if you were sharp enough to see them.
My problem was with what happened in between.
This probably isn't the right time in American history to be reading about cops with a casual attitude to violence, some events seemed highly unlikely to me and a huge cast of mostly unlikable characters. In particular it became boring reading about all of one character's drinks - it felt like reading my local liquor outlet's catalogue! We heard a lot about this person's drinking as this book featured a format I rarely enjoy - multiple POV. This technique really slowed the book down, as we heard a number of characters views about the same scene & the book started to seem longer than 352 pages.
Just not my sort of book.
And so it was - in parts.
I enjoyed the background information on New Orleans, a city that has always seems so exotic to me. And I liked Skip and her boyfriend Steve, and found Skip's struggles with her body image interesting.
The story had an action packed finale that took my breath away. I really wasn't expecting it, but Ms Smith had left the clues there if you were sharp enough to see them.
My problem was with what happened in between.
This probably isn't the right time in American history to be reading about cops with a casual attitude to violence, some events seemed highly unlikely to me and a huge cast of mostly unlikable characters. In particular it became boring reading about all of one character's drinks - it felt like reading my local liquor outlet's catalogue! We heard a lot about this person's drinking as this book featured a format I rarely enjoy - multiple POV. This technique really slowed the book down, as we heard a number of characters views about the same scene & the book started to seem longer than 352 pages.
Just not my sort of book.
Want to read
January 26, 2019This hardcover is signed by Julie Smith.
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March 8, 2009Re-reading this Edgar Award winner made me nostalgic for the 1990's. As part of the cultural ascendency of my own grumpy, surly, suspicious Gen X -- along with grunge and Riot Grrls -- there was a boom in mysteries with strong, independent, not particularly feminine female protagonists. Nowadays every new series written by a woman seems to feature a young, beautiful vampire... but 20 years ago, it was all about the lone female protagonist who worried about whether having any kind of human relationship (other than with an eccentric landlord) signalled dependency and neediness.
Julie Smith isn't much on airtight plot -- whenever she can't figure out how to drop a clue into the story, she arranges for someone to get hit on the head or burglarized -- but her characters, even the most minor ones, come brilliantly alive through dialog. And although the story here is unlikely and sensationalistic, the author is also exploring a literary theme: that every member of an family can have incredibly divergent assessments and memories of family dynamics. One sibling may recall a summer spent in the country as a paradise, while another may remember an atmosphere of dread and abuse. It may not even be enough to say that every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way; Smith shows us here that an unhappy family might be unhappy in multiples of ways.
Julie Smith isn't much on airtight plot -- whenever she can't figure out how to drop a clue into the story, she arranges for someone to get hit on the head or burglarized -- but her characters, even the most minor ones, come brilliantly alive through dialog. And although the story here is unlikely and sensationalistic, the author is also exploring a literary theme: that every member of an family can have incredibly divergent assessments and memories of family dynamics. One sibling may recall a summer spent in the country as a paradise, while another may remember an atmosphere of dread and abuse. It may not even be enough to say that every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way; Smith shows us here that an unhappy family might be unhappy in multiples of ways.
June 13, 2009
is one of the relatively rare Edgar Best Novel winners that I had already read, shortly after its publication. I've gone on to read all Smith's New Orleans books; for some reason, I didn't get into her earlier San Francisco-based series.
Rereading the first book in a long-running series is a bit like reconnecting with an old friend, but it's also a bit like time travel. In this first book, Skip Langdon, Smith's protagonist, is still feeling her way as a police officer and as an adult woman. She has a lot of unresolved issues and so do most of the other major characters in the book -- and some very similar issues, at that. Mention is made that Skip has been reading Tennessee Williams, and Williams's theme of dysfunctional Southern families is on nearly every page of .
Skip, who has only recently realized that a cop is what she wants to be when she grows up, is still a uniformed beat cop, detailed to crowd control at the big Mardi Gras Parade on Mardi Gras (Shrove Tuesday) itself. As daughter to a social-climbing doctor and his wife, she knows most of upper-crust N.O., and as she watches the float of Chauncey St. Amant, an acquaintance who's this year's Rex (King of Carnival), she is stunned to see someone in a Dolly Parton costume shoot him dead from a balcony. When her superiors realize she has entree into this world, she's assigned to help with the investigation.
Smith uses changing points of view skillfully to portray the passions, personalities and problems of the St. Amant family and the family friend, Tolliver Albert, from whose balcony the shot was fired. Of course, the family were all at the exclusive Boston Club waiting for the parade -- or were they? Skip's investigation takes her from the mansions of the rich to the most squalid of New Orleans' slums. In the end, she is not sure whether or not justice has been served.
made me think of the novels of , set in Venice, Italy -- a similar city in some ways, strongly influenced by and often menaced by water, with its own language and customs, its Carnival, and its civic corruption. Like those in most of Leon's books, the ending of is somewhat unsatisfying, but sadly believable.
I recommend this highly to anyone who hasn't yet discovered Smith's series. It's only the daunting state of my TBR shelves that's keeping me from going back to reread the whole series.
Rereading the first book in a long-running series is a bit like reconnecting with an old friend, but it's also a bit like time travel. In this first book, Skip Langdon, Smith's protagonist, is still feeling her way as a police officer and as an adult woman. She has a lot of unresolved issues and so do most of the other major characters in the book -- and some very similar issues, at that. Mention is made that Skip has been reading Tennessee Williams, and Williams's theme of dysfunctional Southern families is on nearly every page of .
Skip, who has only recently realized that a cop is what she wants to be when she grows up, is still a uniformed beat cop, detailed to crowd control at the big Mardi Gras Parade on Mardi Gras (Shrove Tuesday) itself. As daughter to a social-climbing doctor and his wife, she knows most of upper-crust N.O., and as she watches the float of Chauncey St. Amant, an acquaintance who's this year's Rex (King of Carnival), she is stunned to see someone in a Dolly Parton costume shoot him dead from a balcony. When her superiors realize she has entree into this world, she's assigned to help with the investigation.
Smith uses changing points of view skillfully to portray the passions, personalities and problems of the St. Amant family and the family friend, Tolliver Albert, from whose balcony the shot was fired. Of course, the family were all at the exclusive Boston Club waiting for the parade -- or were they? Skip's investigation takes her from the mansions of the rich to the most squalid of New Orleans' slums. In the end, she is not sure whether or not justice has been served.
made me think of the novels of , set in Venice, Italy -- a similar city in some ways, strongly influenced by and often menaced by water, with its own language and customs, its Carnival, and its civic corruption. Like those in most of Leon's books, the ending of is somewhat unsatisfying, but sadly believable.
I recommend this highly to anyone who hasn't yet discovered Smith's series. It's only the daunting state of my TBR shelves that's keeping me from going back to reread the whole series.
January 30, 2016
This book was full of miserable, unlikeable characters. I don't think I'll be reading the next in the series; too many good books to read!
March 13, 2010
It may not be fair for me to rate this book, because I didn't get very far into it before I gave it up. By a few chapters in, I didn't care about any of the characters and actively disliked most of them. I didn't care at all who killed the guy. The roving first-person POV was not done well, so instead of being interested enough to sort out whose head I was in, I was just confused. PERHAPS if one was from NOLA or really a cultural insider, one might enjoy being part of the "in group" and understanding the references, but to this Yankee (who typically does enjoy insight into other cultures), the plot and characters weren't worth the research necessary to sort it all out. I'm also not into familial disfunction in my beach reading, and this book is full of tangled, sad family interaction.
April 3, 2024
New Orleans Mourning by Julie Smith is a gritty murder mystery set in New Orleans during the 90s. Chauncey St. Amant, prominent civic leader and socialite, has been crowned King of Rex. It’s Mardi Gras Day, and parade goers are enjoying themselves as the Rex parade is rolling down St. Charles Avenue until the reigning monarch is shot by an overly enthusiastic reveler dressed like Dolly Parton. Skip Langdon, a rookie NOPD officer, witnesses the crime. Because of her family background and her connection with the St. Amant family, Skip and an overzealous filmmaker work together to solve the crime.
I live relatively close to New Orleans, so I appreciated reading this novel just for the setting alone. Julie Smith did a wonderful job capturing the atmosphere of the Crescent City. There were so many familiar references to locations, venues, activities, and food tied to the city and surrounding areas that added to my enjoyment of the overall story.
New Orleans Mourning is the first book in the Skip Langdon series and my introduction to the tough, thick-skinned police officer. While Skip has her fair share of flaws, I liked her from the beginning. She is up against a great deal working in a job that is predominately male and chauvinistic. Not to mention, she has to also contend with her social-climbing parents and a socialite background that she despises because she does not fit their mold. Despite her appearance, which is brought up quite often throughout the novel, she does find a partner in crime (in more ways than one) when she collides with filmmaker Steve Steinman on the day of the murder. Both Skip and Steve are where the likable characters begin and end. The dysfunctional St. Amant family and their social connections, the detectives Skip works with at the NOPD, and a few shady characters that Skip crosses paths with during her investigation are a whole bunch of unlikeable characters that at times make you want to throw in the towel because they are all so despicable.
Despite the unsavory characters, the length (could have been shorter), and some of the unbelievable scenes involving police procedures, Smith knows how to weave an intriguing tale. I suspended my disbelief a time or two because the overall mystery was engrossing with all its family secrets, twists and turns, and a jaw-dropping ending I did not see coming. I ended up giving this novel 3.5 stars. I’m hoping I can get my hands on a copy of the second novel, so I can find out how Skip fares in the aftermath of this investigation not only as a police officer, but also in her relationship with Steve.
I live relatively close to New Orleans, so I appreciated reading this novel just for the setting alone. Julie Smith did a wonderful job capturing the atmosphere of the Crescent City. There were so many familiar references to locations, venues, activities, and food tied to the city and surrounding areas that added to my enjoyment of the overall story.
New Orleans Mourning is the first book in the Skip Langdon series and my introduction to the tough, thick-skinned police officer. While Skip has her fair share of flaws, I liked her from the beginning. She is up against a great deal working in a job that is predominately male and chauvinistic. Not to mention, she has to also contend with her social-climbing parents and a socialite background that she despises because she does not fit their mold. Despite her appearance, which is brought up quite often throughout the novel, she does find a partner in crime (in more ways than one) when she collides with filmmaker Steve Steinman on the day of the murder. Both Skip and Steve are where the likable characters begin and end. The dysfunctional St. Amant family and their social connections, the detectives Skip works with at the NOPD, and a few shady characters that Skip crosses paths with during her investigation are a whole bunch of unlikeable characters that at times make you want to throw in the towel because they are all so despicable.
Despite the unsavory characters, the length (could have been shorter), and some of the unbelievable scenes involving police procedures, Smith knows how to weave an intriguing tale. I suspended my disbelief a time or two because the overall mystery was engrossing with all its family secrets, twists and turns, and a jaw-dropping ending I did not see coming. I ended up giving this novel 3.5 stars. I’m hoping I can get my hands on a copy of the second novel, so I can find out how Skip fares in the aftermath of this investigation not only as a police officer, but also in her relationship with Steve.
December 9, 2015
Okay, I like the pun in the title, and I love the setting. I have been lucky enough to have to go to NOLA on business twice in the last year, and I had wonderful times there (as I always inevitably do). so I was excited to revisit the French Quarter in particular in this novel, and was pleased to get an insider’s insights into the class system there and the rules and traditions of Mardi Gras.
However, I just couldn’t come to care for the main character, Skip Langdon. She is presented to us as the gangly upper class girl who never fit in, so she rejected the world of debutantes and (ostensibly) is now proving herself as a rookie cop, an Amazon policewoman with guts and determination, also confronted with reverse snobbery from her sexist working class cop colleagues. The story itself is from some years ago, but that part didn’t bother me—I just found her behavior inconsistent (you can’t be both the gangling wallflower and Charlie’s primo Angel at the same time). I also didn’t get why her love interest, the tall sexy moviemaking hunk from the West Coast, found her so captivating—that whole love dynamic didn’t make sense and the more their possible romance was hemmed and hawed over, the less interested I became. (I almost stopped reading altogether when he seduced her into their naked purification ritual with candles and incense.) There were many less nauseating parts of the book, some I even enjoyed. For instance, I did enjoy the chapters given over to narration by different characters from this rich but dysfunctional Southern family steeped in melancholia (thank you for the idea, Mr. Faulkner�) as we tried to figure out which one committed the murder of King Rex at the high point of Mardi Gras, disguised as a sharpshooting Dolly Parton.
However, I just couldn’t come to care for the main character, Skip Langdon. She is presented to us as the gangly upper class girl who never fit in, so she rejected the world of debutantes and (ostensibly) is now proving herself as a rookie cop, an Amazon policewoman with guts and determination, also confronted with reverse snobbery from her sexist working class cop colleagues. The story itself is from some years ago, but that part didn’t bother me—I just found her behavior inconsistent (you can’t be both the gangling wallflower and Charlie’s primo Angel at the same time). I also didn’t get why her love interest, the tall sexy moviemaking hunk from the West Coast, found her so captivating—that whole love dynamic didn’t make sense and the more their possible romance was hemmed and hawed over, the less interested I became. (I almost stopped reading altogether when he seduced her into their naked purification ritual with candles and incense.) There were many less nauseating parts of the book, some I even enjoyed. For instance, I did enjoy the chapters given over to narration by different characters from this rich but dysfunctional Southern family steeped in melancholia (thank you for the idea, Mr. Faulkner�) as we tried to figure out which one committed the murder of King Rex at the high point of Mardi Gras, disguised as a sharpshooting Dolly Parton.
April 4, 2016
After reading a later book in this series I decided I wanted to start at the beginning, and I'm so happy that I did. This book is written in a lush style that beautifully captures the essence of New Orleans. The psychological makeup of all the principal characters is portrayed in great detail while adding to the progress of the story. Even a person who has never experienced New Orleans will appreciate the atmosphere developed as the story progresses. Having experienced the New Orleans of the 80s, I have to say the descriptions are spot on, including the food and the bars. Skip Langdon is not a super woman, but a very real person who has to deal with her own issues to investigate a vexing murder. The murderer's identity is in doubt up to the end, and after the crime is solved, the twist at the end dramatic to say the least, and contributes to the brooding atmosphere of the city. The characters are so richly developed in this book that the story stays with you long after you put it down.
June 24, 2015
Well written and an interesting story but not exactly the cozy mystery I thought I was getting. I really didn't like Skip as a character. Come to think of it, none of the characters in this, with the exception of Steve, had any redeeming value at all. I wasn't sad or upset over the deaths of any of the people and the ones who were left didn't give me anything to grieve over either. Just a bunch of sad, social climbers with nothing better to do than perpetuate old social mores. And the ending. Don't get me started on the rich getting away with, in this case, murder.
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June 14, 2014I'm not rating this one because it wouldn't be fair. I made it less than 10% into the book.
Perhaps I don't have enough interest about New Orleans, or care enough about the Mardi Gras history or events, but not even the characters introduced captured my attention enough to continue.
Sorry........
Perhaps I don't have enough interest about New Orleans, or care enough about the Mardi Gras history or events, but not even the characters introduced captured my attention enough to continue.
Sorry........
October 9, 2022
I read the first chapter and just couldn’t believe how bad it was. In fact the only reason I kept going was I knew it couldn't get any worse, I was wrong!
Why would anybody want to spend valuable time reading about this obnoxious group of characters?
Why would anybody want to spend valuable time reading about this obnoxious group of characters?
October 14, 2022
Confused, the characters failed to engage my interest. Lots like these books but I can't get past the load of uninteresting people that do not engender any empathetic feeling. It's like watching a slow motion train wreck.
January 1, 2018
I read this when it first came out and loved it. Miss this series.
October 26, 2014
I like the author. I like the lead character Skip Langdon. And, of course, I love NOLA. So I'm a happy camper. This was #1 in the series, so I went back to the beginning. I'm now reading book #2.
August 25, 2018
New Orleans Mourning - a review by Rosemary Kenny
It's a case of murder at the Mardi Gras, when the newly-crowned King of Carnival is gunned down by a Dolly Parton look-alike in drag! The only New Orleans officer available seems to be former debutante Skip Langdon, who at least has the social contacts to be used to dealing with the foibles and eccentricities of the St Amant family and the high and low-society types who are now considered potential suspects, due either to their proximity to/their relationship with the deceased, at the time the killer struck.
Many twists and turns keep the reader guessing throughout this steadily-paced thriller and the newly-sworn-in Skip has her work cut out to sort the innocent bystanders and witnesses from the guilty and prevaricating one, as the pressure from above mounts in her race against time?
Buy your copy of New Orleans Mourning by Jackie Smith and find out the truth today - you know you won't rest until you do!
It's a case of murder at the Mardi Gras, when the newly-crowned King of Carnival is gunned down by a Dolly Parton look-alike in drag! The only New Orleans officer available seems to be former debutante Skip Langdon, who at least has the social contacts to be used to dealing with the foibles and eccentricities of the St Amant family and the high and low-society types who are now considered potential suspects, due either to their proximity to/their relationship with the deceased, at the time the killer struck.
Many twists and turns keep the reader guessing throughout this steadily-paced thriller and the newly-sworn-in Skip has her work cut out to sort the innocent bystanders and witnesses from the guilty and prevaricating one, as the pressure from above mounts in her race against time?
Buy your copy of New Orleans Mourning by Jackie Smith and find out the truth today - you know you won't rest until you do!
July 30, 2021
Better than I expected.
I sometimes find that the female police detective novels just don't have the depth of character development I have been used to seeing in male detective novels over the years. It seems like, since I am a woman, the suggested reading lists keep offering me only free books with female lead characters. I find this gratuitous and irritating.
But, I really enjoyed Skip Langdon. Her character was not a "New Orleans cliché" as I had feared, but a fun read with depth.
I will look for more of her books, after reading the Skip Langdon series.
I sometimes find that the female police detective novels just don't have the depth of character development I have been used to seeing in male detective novels over the years. It seems like, since I am a woman, the suggested reading lists keep offering me only free books with female lead characters. I find this gratuitous and irritating.
But, I really enjoyed Skip Langdon. Her character was not a "New Orleans cliché" as I had feared, but a fun read with depth.
I will look for more of her books, after reading the Skip Langdon series.
May 28, 2019
Well written and extremely detailed.
September 17, 2018
Good
I enjoyed the atmosphere the story created. The way the society of New Orleans and life that they lived was very vivid. The use of the way the people talk made a great picture of the life of the characters.
I enjoyed the atmosphere the story created. The way the society of New Orleans and life that they lived was very vivid. The use of the way the people talk made a great picture of the life of the characters.
September 20, 2018
Recommended!!!
If you've never read Julie Smith's work, this is a great place to start. It's a finely honed mystery with New Orleans at Mardi Gras time. You'll get a peek at the upper crust NO customs, prejudices, and those famous Southern manners that hide so much. Loved it.
If you've never read Julie Smith's work, this is a great place to start. It's a finely honed mystery with New Orleans at Mardi Gras time. You'll get a peek at the upper crust NO customs, prejudices, and those famous Southern manners that hide so much. Loved it.
June 7, 2018
Skip Langdon is a police officer in New Orleans. Her father, a doctor is a social climber and has disowned her for becoming a cop. Skip had gone to all the fancy schools that the girls from her father’s wealthy patients had gone to but recently has become a cop because she had wanted to do something that did some good with her life.
Skip is brought up close and personal with her past association with the St. Amant family during Mardi Gras. She is on crowd control along the parade route that Rex the Mardi Gras king is taking on Mardi Gras Day. Recognizing him she realizes it is Chauncy St. Amant. She watches as he is shot to death in front of her by someone dressed like Dolly Parton.
When she attempts to go after the shooter, she gets tangled up with a filmmaker who is making a documentary about Mardi Gras. She then realizes that the home the balcony belongs to is Chauncy’s best friend.
Skip is brought into the investigation because of her ties to the upper crust of New Orleans. We are brought into the dysfunctions of the St. Amant family with all of their secrets and distorted memories. Smith does a good job presenting the situations from the different perspectives of each character.
As the investigation moves along an acquaintance is rekindled with Marcelle, Chauncy’s daughter with whom she went to school. A relationship with Steve the filmmaker develops after he tells her he got the murder on film. He ends up being a help to her throughout the book.
The book was fast-paced and very enjoyable. I loved the New Orleans Southern setting. They say there is no placed like New Orleans.
This is the first of a series of twenty books. This book is from around 1990. I have just come across it on one of the sites I get my kindle books from. I plan to read the entire series.
I give it 4.5 stars.
Skip is brought up close and personal with her past association with the St. Amant family during Mardi Gras. She is on crowd control along the parade route that Rex the Mardi Gras king is taking on Mardi Gras Day. Recognizing him she realizes it is Chauncy St. Amant. She watches as he is shot to death in front of her by someone dressed like Dolly Parton.
When she attempts to go after the shooter, she gets tangled up with a filmmaker who is making a documentary about Mardi Gras. She then realizes that the home the balcony belongs to is Chauncy’s best friend.
Skip is brought into the investigation because of her ties to the upper crust of New Orleans. We are brought into the dysfunctions of the St. Amant family with all of their secrets and distorted memories. Smith does a good job presenting the situations from the different perspectives of each character.
As the investigation moves along an acquaintance is rekindled with Marcelle, Chauncy’s daughter with whom she went to school. A relationship with Steve the filmmaker develops after he tells her he got the murder on film. He ends up being a help to her throughout the book.
The book was fast-paced and very enjoyable. I loved the New Orleans Southern setting. They say there is no placed like New Orleans.
This is the first of a series of twenty books. This book is from around 1990. I have just come across it on one of the sites I get my kindle books from. I plan to read the entire series.
I give it 4.5 stars.
Want to read
December 18, 201899 cent purchase
November 26, 2019
For readers who enjoy tough female detectives, Skip Langdon fits the bill. She's the protagonist in NEW ORLEANS MOURNING, born to a couple on the Crescent City's social register, though she's rejected their ways in favor of becoming a cop. Not at all your conventional Southern Belle, Skip's a tall and large-boned woman and a mass of neuroses, who just doesn't fit into the whole New Orleans society mileau.
Although Skip's just a city beat cop when the story opens, she has ambitions of making detective. So when the King of Carnival at Mardi Gras, a political up-and-comer named Chauncey St. Amant, is murdered by a gun-toting Dolly Parton look-alike and Skip's put on temporary homicide detail, she's all over it like red beans on rice.
Chauncey St. Amant is a man of humble origin who married into New Orleans society through his wife, Bitty � a woman who enjoys a nip from the bottle now and then (i.e., almost always). Chauncey is highly-regarded, but somewhat controversial, for his progressive views on racial equality. He and Bitty have two children, Henry and Marcelle. Altogether, they make a most intriguing (and secretly) dysfunctional family. (Along with Uncle Tolliver, who has his own issues and is almost a part of the family.)
Skip's job is to use her society connections (such as they are) to gather inside intelligence that may help crack the case. As one brought up among the New Orleans society set, Skip knows the St. Amants personally, and Marcelle seems to warm up to Skip (though they were never close as kids), while Henry tries to freeze her out. Meanwhile, Skip gets involved with a visiting L.A. filmmaker who has managed to capture the shooting on film. However, the filmmaker's mugged and the only copy of the film stolen. The story is more than a mystery. It's an exploration of New Orleans society and politics.
The rest of this review was here: (a site that has most unfortunately disappeared!).
Although Skip's just a city beat cop when the story opens, she has ambitions of making detective. So when the King of Carnival at Mardi Gras, a political up-and-comer named Chauncey St. Amant, is murdered by a gun-toting Dolly Parton look-alike and Skip's put on temporary homicide detail, she's all over it like red beans on rice.
Chauncey St. Amant is a man of humble origin who married into New Orleans society through his wife, Bitty � a woman who enjoys a nip from the bottle now and then (i.e., almost always). Chauncey is highly-regarded, but somewhat controversial, for his progressive views on racial equality. He and Bitty have two children, Henry and Marcelle. Altogether, they make a most intriguing (and secretly) dysfunctional family. (Along with Uncle Tolliver, who has his own issues and is almost a part of the family.)
Skip's job is to use her society connections (such as they are) to gather inside intelligence that may help crack the case. As one brought up among the New Orleans society set, Skip knows the St. Amants personally, and Marcelle seems to warm up to Skip (though they were never close as kids), while Henry tries to freeze her out. Meanwhile, Skip gets involved with a visiting L.A. filmmaker who has managed to capture the shooting on film. However, the filmmaker's mugged and the only copy of the film stolen. The story is more than a mystery. It's an exploration of New Orleans society and politics.
The rest of this review was here: (a site that has most unfortunately disappeared!).
September 28, 2019
Full review can be found here:
March 2, 2018
I couldn’t finish this book for a number of reasons. First is that none of the characters are really that likable. Skip is to an extent but everyone else is just loathsome. Second is that the writing is OK (it really feels like it should be taking place in the early 1900’s by the character’s speaking style) but I found a number of typos (and I only got to 52% done) which just seems silly. Lastly, and most importantly is that the story/plot is not very good. In reading 52% of the book (according to my kindle) maybe 5% of that is plot line. The remaining is back story on the characters and how dysfunctional they are. As a result, the plot doesn’t move. Overall I felt as it was just a waste of time.
March 19, 2016
I've read several of Ms. Smith's Skip Langdon mysteries, but I think this one is the best so far, probably the first one that should be read in the series because it describes Skip's start with the New Orleans Police Department. It also covers a little of her life before that and her connections with the wealthy families of New Orleans. Her constant boyfriend, Steve Steinman, is also introduced into her life.
This story revolves around a totally dysfunctional family when the father/husband is murdered and just about any of them could have killed him for very good reasons. The plot is also intricate, and I was not really sure who murdered Chauncey St. Amant until the very end.
This story revolves around a totally dysfunctional family when the father/husband is murdered and just about any of them could have killed him for very good reasons. The plot is also intricate, and I was not really sure who murdered Chauncey St. Amant until the very end.
January 11, 2017
The first of the Skip Langdon series set in New Orleans has Skip as a regular new cop assigned to the Homicide squad because of her connections to the murdered King of the Carnival. The plot is rife with the lives and machinations of some of the most prominent citizens and Skip as the daughter of the doctor of many of these people has somewhat of a friendship with some and is at least known to others. Twists abound as she works the clues and is barley accepted by the two detectives she is working with. A fun read and since I downloaded a set of 9 I have 7 more to go,( I had already read one earlier. ). Plenty of New Orleans flavor to this series.
February 2, 2020
I forced myself to finish this book as I dislike not finishing a book (have on occasion when they were just too bad). I didn’t like any of the characters. The rambling narrative sections bored me. Way too much information on the history of Mardi Gras and the krewes. It seems all the characters were alcoholics or druggies, including our protagonist, Skip. I kept hoping for some redeeming qualities from someone-nope.
August 5, 2008
I was expecting more from this book because I knew it had won the Edgar Award. I gave it 4 stars just in case the 3 I wanted to give it was misguided by over expectations. It a good mystery, but I was hoping for Great and didn't get it. But don't let my judgment prevent you from trying it, I also don't agree with 8 out of 10 Pulitzer Prise winning selections.
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