Review of the Day: New Orleans Mourning

Julie Smith won the 1991 Edgar Award for New Orleans Mourning, the first in what became her Skip Langdon series. A former debutante and police rookie, Langdon is a misfit in both high society New Orleans and the blue collar police force. Her oddball status means she must find her own way when given a special assignment to work on the murder of a prominent civic leader.

Langdon is an appealing heroine because she is imperfect. She is six feet tall and hefty, a horrible dresser, and remarkably headstrong for someone who is making it up as she goes along. Smith uses Langdon to present a take on pre-Katrina New Orleans life that is perceptive, irreverent, and for mystery fans, a refreshing change from the always dark and creepy Louisiana of James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux series.

Sometimes the conflicts in the story – between Langdon and her homicide detective co-workers or the amateur filmmaker who she cannot decide wants to love her or use her for a great story – seem forced. But Smith makes up for these flaws with a complicated story that twists several times before all the loose ends get satisfactorily tied up.

Opening Sentence of the Day: Where Angels Fear to Tread

"They were all at Charing Cross to see Lilia off --  Philip, Harriet, Irma, Mrs. Harrington herself."

-- Where Angels Fear to Tread by E. M. Forster

I'm a Forster fan, but I have never read this and I have never seen the movie.  I don't really like movie tie-in covers, but that's the edition I ended up with. I don't even remember where I got it, it has been on my TBR shelf for so long.

WAFtT is on the Radcliffe Top 100 list. I am trying to concentrate on this list more than others because I only have 15 to go (if I count the last two volumes of The Lord of the Rings as two separate items on the list, which I do).

Author of the Day: A. J. Cronin

A. J. Cronin (1896 to 1981) was a prolific mid-century author who wrote more than 20 novels, many which were made into movies or television shows.

Cronin was born and raised in Scotland, with a Protestant mother and a Catholic father. Many of his characters came from similar backgrounds.  Cronin was a medical doctor before he became an author and many of his books, especially his most famous, The Citadel, concern medical school and doctors. 

I have had a copy of The Green Years on my TBR shelf for decades. But I only got around to reading his books after I found a nifty matching set of six of his most popular books at a library book sale. I started with Three Loves, his second published novel and the earliest in my set. I was swept away in the story, which is sometimes all I want out of a book.

I may never get around to reading all of Cronin's fiction and non-fiction -- most of his books are out of print -- but I would like to try. I only included novels and his autobiography on my list, I have not included "serial novellas" (unless they have been published in a book), short stories, or a play.


Those I have read are in red; those on my TBR shelf are in blue.

Hatter's Castle (1931)

Three Loves (1932) (reviewed here)

Grand Canary (1933)

The Stars Look Down (1935)

The Citadel (1937)

Vigil in the Night (1939)

The Valorous Years (1940)

The Keys of the Kingdom (1941)

Adventures of a Black Bag (1943) (out of print and hard to find)

The Green Years (1944)

Shannon's Way (1948)

The Spanish Gardener (1950)

Adventures in Two Worlds (autobiography, 1952)

Beyond This Place (1953)

A Thing of Beauty (also published as Crusader's Tomb) (1956)

The Northern Light (1958)

The Native Doctor (also published as An Apple in Eden) (1959) (out of print and very hard to find)

The Judas Tree (1961)

A Song of Sixpence (1964)

Further Adventures of a Black Bag (1966) (out of print and hard to find)

A Pocketful of Rye (1969)

Desmonde (also published as The Minstrel Boy) (1975)

Lady with Carnations (1976)

Gracie Lindsay (1978)

Doctor Finlay of Tannochbrae (1978)

Teaser Tuesday: Portland Noir

"She's  a touch thick, not quite shed of her winter fat, but she wears her flesh with oblivious self-assurance.  I have no doubt a man with a flatter belly could pay her bar tab and bed her the same night, with no idea of the problems she'll cause over breakfast."

-- From "Coffee, Black" by Bill Cameron in Portland Noir, edited by Kevin Sampsell.

This collection of original short stories is all over the map -- if the map is Portland, Oregon. Each one is set in a different neighborhood in the Rose City, but all those neighborhoods are in the seedy underbelly of my city. 

I am half-way through the collection, and so far, Bill Cameron's story is my favorite. It is traditional, hard-boiled detective noir -- but caffeinated. This coffee-house mystery perfectly captures Portland's espresso-fueled culture.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Mailbox Monday

Thanks mostly to the Oregon State University Press, I had a very full mailbox last week and a long list for Mailbox Monday.

Jumptown: The Golden Years of Portland Jazz 1942-1957 by Robert Dietsche (Hubby is a huge classic jazz fan, so most of what we listen to is jazz from this era. I am looking forward to learning about Portland's jazz history.)



Another Way the River Has: Taut True Tales from the Northwest by Robin Cody



City Limits: Walking Portland's Boundary by David Oates



An Architectural Guidebook to Portland by Bart King



The Grail: A Year Ambling & Shambling Through an Oregon Vinyard in Pursuit of the Best Pinot Noir Wine in the Whole Wild World by Brian Doyle (This looks fantastic!)




I also got a novel in the mail from my favorite book publicist:

The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O'Connor McNees



And I found a boxed set of the first six volumes of John Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga. I have been meaning to read this for years and I already have the last three volumes in the same Scribner's edition. Thelast three aren't boxed, but at least all the books match.

The Man of Property



In Chancery



To Let



The Silver Spoon



The White Monkey



Swan Song