CITIES OF THE DEAD

by Linda Barnes ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 14, 1986

Ex-private-eye, sometime actor, heir to riches Michael Spraggue (Dead Heat, etc.) is in New Orleans at the request of feisty, Boston-based Aunt Mary, whose cook Dora is accused of having stabbed to death famed Cajun chef Joseph Fontenot while she, Dora, was a guest at a dinner honoring the great chefs of the city. It soon appears that Fontenot had a secret, much-checkered past, a few years of which had been spent bigamously married to Dora, with another time span in state prison for his role in a robbery-murder in which the sizable loot and his two confederates were never found. Further slogging by Spraggue, Aunt Mary and police detective Rawlins turns up some hefty recent deposits in the chef's bank account, a 20-year-old newspaper clipping about an unidentified body found in a New Orleans burial vault, a daughter Dora had given up for adoption in infancy, and, in a rather silly showdown, Fontenot's killer. The least appealing of the Spraggue stories, with overworked plotting, labored background, pedestrian characters and a somewhat dispirited sleuth. In sum: not much fun.

Pub Date: Feb. 14, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1986

Categories: FICTION