stylistically, loved this book. Nice noir feel throughout. About a black P.I in New Orleans, with stories taking place in the 60's, 70's 80's and 890's. Or is it about New Orleans itself, or race, or the U.S. or the author. If you don't mind a bit of philosophy and have you tube to check out all the blues and jazz mentioned. well worth the read ( )

Review of first two books in the series, The long-legged Fly and Moth:

pp

"Other people's roaches, other place's roaches, run for cover when you turn the lights on. You ever seen any different? But not here, man. New Orleans roaches are more liable to drop to one knee and give out with a chorus of 'Swanee.'"

These are the first two books in a new-to-me detective series set in New Orleans. Although the books are very noirish, the author is also a poet, and the writing is sometimes lyrical, and there are many literary references. The prose in these books is a delight to read.

In the first book, Lew Griffin, the detective, works on a series of cases separated by a number of years, beginning in 1964. (This was 4 years before I went to live in New Orleans). There's tons of New Orleans references and atmosphere, which I really liked. There's a number of recurring characters, including NOPD officer Don Walsh, and prostitute with a heart of gold La Verne.

In the first section, 1964, Lew is asked to find a missing civil rights leader. In 1970 he's hired by a couple from rural Mississippi to find their teenage daughter. In 1984, he's just out of detox and is in a serious relationship with Vicky a Scottish nurse. He is making a living doing collection work when his former roommate from a half-way house asks him to find his missing sister. And when we catch up with Lew again in 1990, we find he has written a novel about a cajun detective in New Orleans, when his ex-wife Jane asks him to help find their son David who has gone missing. The interesting thing about Lew's cases is that they are not always solved, or at least not solved in a way that the bad guys receive their due and the missing person is returned. The book ends, "It's not midnight. It's not raining."

And the first line of the second book is, "It was midnight, it was raining." This is a more conventional detective story, with a sustained rather than episodic plot, though it also begins as a missing persons case. Lew's friend LaVerne has died of cancer, and he learns that for some time before her death she had been searching for the daughter she was estranged from. Her husband asks Lew to help find the daughter, and he follows her trail to rural Mississippi, where she has given birth to a crack-addicted premature baby.

I'll be continuing to read this series. There are several more.

3 1/2 stars ( )

Recommended by Valla Vakili of Small Demons at BiB '11

Another of those situations where I'd like to have a 1/2 star available to make it a 3.5. I like the character a lot - nothing extraordinary but well-defined and of course, flawed. It wasn't until I read someone else's review that I realized (and accepted) "yes, not really a detective story but a story about a detective." Read it in less than 24 hours and coming off Dorian Gray, that worked just fine. ( )

I starting reading this series because I received a ARC of James Sallis' new book Sarah Jane to review. The marketing of the books from Soho Press claims that James Sallis is going through a renaissance, and I am not sure what the qualifications are for that experience. The problems with his writing are 1) he is a Black author writing detective stories and that has already been done by talented writers like Chester Himes and Walter Moseley so you can't help comparing Sallis to them; and 2) Sallis' claim to fame is his book Drive was made into a film starring Ryan Gosling and Brian Cranston. To me, his books read more like movie scripts, there is plenty of atmosphere (they are set in New Orleans) and action, but the characters are not well developed. I think he should stick to writing movie scripts and not try to pass off a series of 200 page books as a finished product. But then I am not finished reading the series, maybe they get better. ( )