Yestersday's News Become New Fiction Books (Hurricane Katrina)

With the recent Hurricane Gustav headlines, the three-year old Hurricane Katrina is back in the American consciousness. Since that time, of course, books about the tragedy have swept up in bookstores and libraries with its share of fiction books. Our library system has at least three adult titles in the mystery genre.

First is James Lee Burke's Tin Roof Blowdown from the long-running series with Iberia Parish Sheriff's Detective Dave Robicheaux. He travels to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to help restore civil order which includes dealing with violent and desperate lawbreakers roaming the streets.

I have a copy of this book at home (a Christmas gift).

Second, I noticed in our new book section months ago, First the Dead by Tim Downs. This book marks the third of the series with forensic entomologist Nick "Bug Man"Polchak, so nicknamed because he is an expert in using bugs to deduce the time and circumstances of death. A member of DMORT, the disaster mortuary operational response team, used by FEMA to assist with mass casualties, Polchak goes to New Orleans when Katrina hits. Some corpses, however, show signs of death before the storm and Polchak's investigation takes a much different turn. First the Dead is also under the Christian fiction genre.

Last is New Orleans Noir, a collection of 18 unpublished short stories edited by Julie Smith. This is the twelfth book of the recent city noir short story series with two sections for the pre-and post-Katrina entries. Well-known writers such as Laura Lippman contribute to this project along with those on the rise.

A Newbie Author on the PLCMC system shelves--

A fellow librarian pointed out a new title to me a few weeks ago as a
possible read for the book club. Yet, I wondered--at first--if this title would be
a good one to recommend to the group as a meaty read at a slender 219
pages. No matter, the title of the book You Should Have Died on Monday could be enough to sell this book or doom it to ridicule. The latter didn't happen with the book club.

We did select the book to read for September and things worked out well. I
discovered this book which is in the library's "African-American
Fiction" section (I can write about mysteries creep into various
library locations another time) and that author Frankie Y. Bailey has not had a book arrive at my library system before. Well, welcome--glad you made it. "Monday" is the fourth book to feature Bailey's crime historian Lizabeth "Lizzie" Stuart who's also a criminal justice professor (like Bailey in real life). This story has Stuart in search for information about her long-lost mother by traveling to Chicago, Wilmington and finallypre-Katrina New Orleans.

Overall, we liked the book. We liked the characters and the book's resolutions.
We didn't like as much some choppy pacing in the novel. I definitely her kudos for a nice author website.