Julie Smith: Crescent City Kill (USA 1998)

From the Publisher:
"A REAL NAIL-BITER... This one is as rich av a good gumbo the city and its people are lovingly detailed and the plotting is foolproof and tight. In short, you want this book." -- The Washington Times

Who or what is The Jury? To her horror, NOPD detective Skip Langdon discovers it is a new, national, fast-growing, and very volatile organization headquartered in New Orleans. Its mission: to execute those who have "escaped" prosecution. What's more, Skip perceives that behind this deadly, clandestine group lies the evil brilliance of her old adversary, charismatic con man and cold-blooded killer Errol Jacomine. She's been waiting for Jacomine to orchestrate his twisted plan for revenge. The time is now...

"No one writes about New Orleans, its steamy charms and its seamy sins, as well as Ms. Smith. She catches the tricky nuances of Louisiana speech as well as the sights, smells, and sounds of the Delta City." -- Dallas Morning News
A MAIN SELECTION OF THE MYSTERY GUILD

Julie Smith: Crescent City Kill. A Skip Langdon Novel. Ivy Books, ISBN: 0804113971 (September, 1998), 356 p., $6.50.

Julie Smith: Crescent City Kill (USA 1997)

From the Publisher:
Who or what is The Jury? To her horror, NOPD detective Skip Langdon discovers it is a new, national, fast-growing, and very volatile organization headquartered in New Orleans. Its mission: to execute those who have "escaped" prosecution. What's more, Skip perceives that behind this deadly, clandestine group lies the evil brilliance of her old adversary, charismatic con man and cold-blooded killer Errol Jacomine. She's been waiting for Jacomine to orchestrate his twisted plan for revenge. The time is now.

However, with a new, honest police superin-tendent, Skip feels there's hope for the city she loves. But no sooner does Chief Albert Goodlett take office than he is gunned down. The Jury claims credit for this brazen act of vigilante justice. Does anyone care? Not in New Orleans. But the feds do and so does Skip.

As the rich novels of Julie Smith remind us, New Orleans is a city of excess. These days the local philosophy that too much is not enough seems to encompass not only the famed Crescent City pleasures of sex, music, and food, but also the escalating horror of violent death.

JULIE SMITH, a former reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the San Francisco Chronicle, has written seven novels featuring Skip Langdon. The first book in the series, New Orleans Mourning, won the Edgar Award for Best Novel. Smith recently married and moved back to New Orleans, where she lives in an 1830s Creole town house with its very own ghost and serial murder story.

Julie Smith: Crescent City Kill. A Skip Landon Novel. Fawcett Columbine, ISBN: 0449910008 (August, 1997), 326 p., $23.50.