"Great police procedural"
At one time he was the head of a church group that he
turned into his own cult of personal assassins who were
willing to commit any crime he asked them to do. He ran
for mayor of New Orleans before Detective Skip Langdon
exposed him as a murderer, kidnapper, and con artist.
Before he could be arrested, he disappeared and one of his
main goals has become to destroy Langdon. After extensive plastic surgery Jacomine reinvented himself
as David Wright, host of the Dallas Cable TV show, Mr.
Right. He assists the poor and bewildered get help when
they have nobody else to turn to. He married a woman from
a powerful political family and has delusions of using his
wife's family and the show to springboard a political run.
He also arranges a hit on his arch enemy Skip Langdon who
is determined that this time she will find and bring to
justice the criminal that made her life miserable for
several years. If it wasn't for Jacomine's obsession to take out the
heroine, who knows if his plan to run and win in national
politics would have worked. MEAN WOMAN BLUES is all about
obsession: the FBI's desire to take down their number two
felon, the heroine's desire to catch Jacomine and live a
normal life, and the villain's need to control everyone
around him. Even though the audience knows who is doing
what at all times, Julie Smith is able to surprise the
readers with many unexpected twists and turns. This is one
of the best police procedural of the year. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted July 18, 2003
SummaryNemesis: the rival fate never allows you to beat.
The nemesis of Skip Langdon, New Orleans police detective,
is Errol Jacomine. This evangelical preacher has been
leader of his own frenzied army of converts, has run for
mayor of New Orleans, and now wants to become president of
the United States. His campaign methods are rabble-rousing,
theft, kidnapping, and multiple murder.
Skip thinks he's as dangerous as Jim Jones. She has chased
him for years, no luck. Now Jacomine comes after Skip, her
lover, and her friends. She must track him down. But his
guise this time is so clever even his own children don't
recognize him.
In Mean Woman Blues, Edgar Award-winner Julie Smith returns
triumphantly to her popular series about hip New Orleans
detective Skip Langdon, once again operating in sensual,
sexy, exotic New Orleans.
This time Skip is able to teach Jacomine that nemesis
originally meant the goddess of retributive justice.
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