Synopses & Reviews
A Talba Wallis NovelBy night the glamorous Baroness de Pontalba, by day New Orleans’ hippest P.I., Talba Wallis is dumbfounded when she can’t do a simple background check on an old friend—Babalu Maya just doesn’t seem to exist on paper. Four days later, she doesn’t exist at all.
As Talba threads her way backward through Babalu’s short, difficult life, she finds an intricate pattern of violence and fear, and a shadowy Mr. Big with homicidal intent. Talba butts right into everybody’s business in Clayton, Louisiana, a small town with a big, ugly secret, where being black, mouthy, and smart are the three qualities most likely to get her killed. As she uncovers dark truths, events and people spiral into nasty motion in a story that has more twists and turns than the Mississippi River.
Review
“Can’t wait for the next Evanovich? Check out
Louisiana Hotshot. It’s Stephanie Plum with Tabasco, dawlin’.”—
The Clarion Ledger, Jackson, MS
“Julie Smith writes like jazz should sound—cool, complex and penetrating
right to the heart.”—Val McDermid, bestselling author of The Last Temptation
“Julie Smith has created many wonderful characters, and private investigator Talba Wallis is the most complex and fascinating of them all. A lively supporting cast, a vibrant portrait of New Orleans, and a plot that’s sure to baffle make Louisiana Bigshot a standout. If you haven’t read Smith before, this is the time to start. If you’re a fan, you’re in for yet another treat.”—Marcia Muller, bestselling author of Dead Midnight
Review
“Cant wait for the next Evanovich? Check out
Louisiana Hotshot. Its Stephanie Plum with Tabasco, dawlin.”—
The Clarion Ledger, Jackson, MS
“Julie Smith writes like jazz should sound—cool, complex and penetrating
right to the heart.”—Val McDermid, bestselling author of The Last Temptation
“Julie Smith has created many wonderful characters, and private investigator Talba Wallis is the most complex and fascinating of them all. A lively supporting cast, a vibrant portrait of New Orleans, and a plot thats sure to baffle make Louisiana Bigshot a standout. If you havent read Smith before, this is the time to start. If youre a fan, youre in for yet another treat.”—Marcia Muller, bestselling author of Dead Midnight
Synopsis
By night the glamorous poet Baroness de Pontalba, by day New Orleans's hippest PI, Talba Wallis is dumbfounded when an old friend, Babalu Maya, just doesn't exist on paper. Four days later, she doesn't exist at all, and the man who should be Talba's new worst enemy becomes her new best client.
About the Author
Julie Smith currently lives and writes in the Faubourg Marigny district of New Orleans, a neighborhood of nightclubs, restaurants and coffee shops where shady characters mix with artists. The author of nineteen novels, she was born and raised in Savannah before escaping to the University of Mississippi. After graduation, Smith became a reporter, first for the
New Orleans Times-Picayune and later the
San Francisco Chronicle. She lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for many years before returning to New Orleans.
Smith abandoned reporting for writing mysteries in the early 1980s, writing a series featuring attorney Rebecca Schwartz and a second series starring Paul McDonald, a reporter turned mystery writer whose fate you wouldn't wish on a dog. A few years later, she launched a third series featuring New Orleans police detective Skip Langdon with New Orleans Mourning, which won the Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel in 1991. She currently alternates between writing about Skip Langdon and Talba Wallis, an African-American poet/private eye who debuted in "Louisiana Hotshot."