Obtain Immediately Jazz Funeral (Skip Langdon, #3) Drafted By Julie Smith Supplied As Hardbound

adequate summer read. There was very little suspense and it wasn't too thrilling, The mystery wasn't too surprising to anyone who watches Law and Order SUV, It wasn't engrossing enough for me to want to read more in the series, It was just an okay book and my Kindle edition contained lots of typos, Sixteen year old Melody is a talented vocalist and composer, but she has problems her parents don't understand her and her boyfriend dumped her in favor of her best friend.
Things just got worse her brother, the well known head of JazzFest, was murdered, Her young life is shattered and she runs away from home with no money, no place to stay, and no plans,

Six foot tall Ship Langdon is a homicide detective in the New Orleans Police Department, but she has problems her insecurities, a longdistance boyfriend, and a boss that makes her life miserable.


When Skip is assigned to the murder she wants to find the killer, of course, but she is determined to find Melody, She interviews many and follows leads but there are many lies, half truths, and omissions, As the days go by she's frantic to find the girl even though her boss wants her to focus on the murder,

Wonderful characters and you can almost feel the New Orleans Ms, Smith describes it. s sounds, smells, and streets, It was a fun read with a surprise ending,

No graphic sex or violence great read one of the suspects is completely CRAZY in a funny kind of way, Some typos, but toward the end too many typo's to count could use a few more pair of eyes to read before it is released in a e format to have caught all these errors.
It could have been astar book if not for all those errors, which disrupts the reading flow for me, Other wise a very good book and alot of things to learn about New Orleans, which I have never had the pleasure to visit, even though I am from and live in the south.
This book was OK, but I had a hard time warming up to it and then another hard time getting myself to finish it, The first chapter did a very poor job of making the reader want to continue, and I actually wished I'd abandoned it at that point, On the other hand, the quality of the writing is better than many police mysteries so at some point in the future, I might give another one in this series a try to make sure I'm evaluating it fairly.
New Orleans Mysteries

I really like New Orleans and mystery stories or mystical stories about the Crescent City, Fortunately there are quite a few good authors who write about NOLA and Julie Smith is among the best, I've read the Talba Wallis series where I was the introduced to Skip Langdon, Since I enjoyed the Talba Wallis series so much I grabbed a copy of Jazz Funeral of off BookBub and thoroughly enjoyed the same great intrigue experienced before.
The characters are multi dimensional and the plot gives more than one tiny twist, I'm going back and starting with New Orleans Mourning, read the entire Skip Langdon series, You should too if you enjoy good mysteries, I wanted to love this book, as I love New Orleans and Jazz Fest, The setting was great with local color, the characters were interesting, but somehow it just seemed to drag, I felt like I was slogging through a humid NOLA day without much energy, I would give the author another try, though, especially as she has a couple books set in San Francisco! I readily admit that I struggled with sitelinkJazz Funeral by sitelinkJulie Smith.
This is therd book in the Skip Langdon mystery series set in New Orleans, The basic gist of the story is that jazz impresario, Ham Brocato, is found murdered in his home, just before the big party at his home to open the annual Jazz and Heritage Festival.
At the same time, Ham's younger sister Melody disappears a suspect or maybe a witness Other suspects include TiBelle, a singer discovered by Ham and his livein lover, or maybe his father, Gregory or even his mother Patty.


It's a rambling sort of story with all sorts of main characters Skip, of course, but also TiBelle, Melody and the forementioned Gregory and Patty.
Skip is looking for Melody, trying to find her in case she is in danger, Melody has run away from home for what reason and hiding out in New Orlean's center, It's just a disconnected story and there is no real investigation of the murder, . . other than Skip showing up at peoples' homes and asking a few questions,

The more I got into the story, the better it got, but it was still frustrating, No real police work, just wandering from character to character, Unfortunately, I didn't find any of them particularly sympathetic and some Melody were down right irritating, Maybe I just can't relate to teenagers anymore, Even the ending was sort of a throwin, I do have the next book on my shelf and will read it, but I don't know if I'll be in a particular hurry to grab it.
. This book was published in, and occasionally the differences in technology and other cultural references are a bit jarring, But it's worth the effort to overcome those distractions, because it is so wellwritten, It's the third in a the Skip Langdon series, but these books are in no way formulaic, In this one, we spend almost as much time in the head ofyearold Melody, a runaway whose brother was just murdered, as we do in Skip's.
It has the effect of giving us all the information we need to understand the crime and really making us care about how it works out.
It also helps that this series in set in New Orleans, a city with a unique character that doesn't change that much over time that is as central to the story as any of the other characters.
This was a fun read, engaging and created a good sense of place, Since I was in New Orleans when I started it, I enjoyed the descriptions of the French Quarter and the air that was so thick and humid it was like a velvet massage.
I enjoyed the female detective perspective, especially the insight into her feelings about being a big woman, The mind of theyear old center of the plot was described as though the author was that girl, Fun, easy but not great literature, Great read

Couldn't put it down the twist and turns every time I thought I knew who was the murderer no not that one The novel begins with Skip Langdon, the lead detective in this crime thriller, preparing for a party in hot, humid New Orleans with her boyfriend, Steve Steinman, a filmmaker and producer from Los Angeles, and her best friend and landlord, Jimmy Dee.
The party turns out to be a bust, but all the more exciting for the fact that Skip discovers the party's host dead, Ham Brocato was a local legend and philanthropist who was known for organising the annual jazz festival, along with his highprofile singer girlfriend, TiBelle Thiebaud, What's more worrying, though, is that Ham's sixteenyearold halfsister has not been seen since the murder and may be in danger herself,

The story is told by different characters at each twist and turn, including that of the runaway sister, This not only gives a very wide view of the crime but also allows the characters to tell their own stories about why they are there and what reasons they might have for murder or not.
However, one of the most effective results of using a diverse range of narrators is to create a wonderfully panoramic view of the city of New Orleans and what it is like to live there with its people, its food, its moods, and, above all, its music.


I found the people and the action believable and the book was a thoroughly enjoyable read, I was really pleased with myself that I managed to spot who the killer was early on in the story, As usual, my understanding of the killer's motive was not quite right and later on, I allowed myself to be distracted into thinking it might be another character.
However, it came as no surprise when the murderer was revealed,

I was a little unsure about the detective, Skip Langdon, My impression was that she was a little too soft and allowed herself a little too much emotional space for a homicide detective, That, and her frequent use of marijuana, made me wonder about the book until I discovered that it had been written inand, as such, must have been one of the earlier female police detective novels.


Julie Smith is a groundbreaker in her novelwriting, This book is the third in her Skip Langdon series, and sits about midway in her timeline of novels, In addition to these, she has written a slew of short stories which can be found at her website, here sitelinkbooksBnimble and has won a number of awards for her work.


I am certainly impressed with and encouraged by Ms Smith's longevity in the writing business and and am looking forward to reading more of her work.
I started reading this while in New Orleans for Jazz Fest, While I enjoyed the overall setting of the book, New Orleans during Jazz Fest, the plot and characters never drew me in to caring much about them.
This was my first Skip Langdon novel and I'd be willing to give another one a chance but I'm not rushing out to get one, This third outing was pretty "meh" for me, Though I enjoyed the setting and music, I never cared about the characters, The resolution of the mystery was ok, but I struggled to keep reading to get there, Wow, so much better than I expected, Of course I read it because I've enjoyed this author before, but this book shows an exceptional talent for character exploration, Weave that in with a story that captivates the mind, heart and senses emotionally charged, Intriguing, to explore the minds of each character while being led through a runaways experience of New Orleans, and the experiences of those who are looking for her.
But why did she run, and who killed her brother

I couldn't put the book down, Skip Langdon gets caught up in the deathMurder of a prominent New Orleans personality and the disappearance of his teenage sister, Family squabbles, the sisters time on the streets of the city and an unexpected ending to it all, This is the second of thenovels that I downloaded to my Kindle and I am looking forward to he next one, Plenty of local New Orleans color

to be found here, EXCERPT: “Ata pop,” fumed a redfaced man, “youd think wed at least get a drink, ”

The shrill, uncertain buzz theyd noticed was developing a hysterical note, This was a party that wasnt fun, Bemused, Skip and Steve worked their way back around to the front,

“Ham I could see,” said Skip, “He could have had to work lateits his busiest time, But wheres TiBelle”

“Oh, bout two houses away, Id say, Approaching at a dead run, having just parked a Thunderbird with a squeal of wheels, ”

Skip had heard the squeal, but had paid it no mind, Now she saw a very thin woman coming towards them, hair flying, long legs shining brown, sticking out from a white silk shorts suit, Over one shoulder she carried a lightweight flight bag, Goldenthroated TiBelle Thiebaud, the fastestrising star on the New Orleans music scene,

Steve said, “Id know those legs anywhere, ”

She never performed in any garment that wasnt short, split, slit, or halfway missing, Some said the whole country would know those legs soon, They said she was going to be bigger than large, larger than huge,

Thiebaud was approaching at a dead trot, fast giving way to a gallop, She was wearing huge hoop earrings, She had giant black eyes and shining olive skin, flyaway blond hair that looked utterly smashing with her dark complexion, Her skin clung to her bones, hanging gently, as naturally as hide on a horse,

“Howd Ham get her” she blurted,

A black man waved at the singer, tried to slow her progress, pretend it was a party: “Hey, TiBelle, ”

Thiebaud paid him no mind but cast a look at the crowd in general, Skip saw twin wrinkles at the sides of her noseone day theyd be there permanently if she worried a lot in the meantime,

“Hi, yall. ” She was trying to smile, but it wasnt working, “Excuse me a minute. ” She let herself in and closed the door behind her,

Almost immediately, a scream that could have come from anyonethe hottest Cajun RampB singer in America or any terrified womanripped through the nervous buzz.


THE BLURB: Smack in the middle of the summer, Skip finds herself investigating the stabbling death of the universally beloved producer of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
Then the victim's sixteenyearold sister disappears, and Skip suspects that if the young woman isn't herself the murderer, she's in mortal danger from the person who is.
And with her longdistance love, Steve Steinman, and her landlord, Jimmy Dee, to assist her, Skip trails an elusive killer through the delirium of a city caught up in the world's most famous music bash.


MY THOUGHTS:from me for Jazz Funeral by Julie Smith, This book really missed the mark with me, and was barely an okay read,

I love books set in the south, I have a fascination for New Orleans, And as y'all know I love a good murdermystery/Detective story, But even with all these things going for it, Jazz Funeral failed to ignite my reading senses, At times, with its lack of atmosphere and lack of suspense,I considered dnf'ing it, and in retrospect, I should have, But I persevered as it did not take a great deal of effort or concentration to read, But then it gave about the same amount of satisfaction not a great deal,

Yes,I know that this isin a series of which I have not read the first two books, Would reading them have added to my enjoyment of Jazz Funeral I think not, And no, I am not going to continue with the series,

The Kindle edition of Jazz Funeral I read was full of very basic typo errors which did nothing to endear it to me, and I really can't recommend this read to anyone.


All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions, Just because I didn't enjoy this book, doesn't mean that you wont, If you enjoyed the excerpt above, and like the sound of the blurb, then go ahead and read Jazz Funeral, I enjoy the fact that we all have such diverse reading tastes,

Please refer to my Goodreads, com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday, wordpress. com for an explanation of my rating system, This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday, wordpress. com sitelink wordpress. com/ .