Chasing The Devil's Tail

[Lois Gilbert]

Storyville, 1907: In this raucous, bloody, red-light district, where
two thousand scarlet women ply their trade in grand mansions and filthy dime-a-trick cribs, where cocaine and opium are sold over the counter, and where rye whiskey flows like an amber river, there's a killer loose. Someone is murdering Storyville prostitutes and marking each killing with a black rose. As Creole detective Valentin St. Cyr begins to unravel the murder against this extraordinary backdrop, he encounters a cast of characters drawn from history: Tom Anderson, the political boss who
runs Storyville like a private kingdom; Lulu White, the district's
most notorious madam; a young piano player who would come to be known as Jelly Roll Morton; and finally, Buddy Bolden, the man who all but invented jazz and is now losing his mind.

No ordinary mystery, Chasing the Devil's Tail [Harvest, $14.00,
paperback] is a chilling portrait of musical genius and self-destruction, set at the very moment when jazz was born.

David Fulmer has written about blues and jazz for the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, National Public Radio, and Blues Access. He wrote and produced the documentary Blind Willie¡Çs Blues. A native of Pennsylvania, he lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his daughter Italia.

Chasing the Devil¡'s Tail By David Fulmer
Publication Date: July 2003
ISBN # 0-15-602728-3 $14.00 PAPERBACK 348 PAGES

[patricia]

I'm runnin' right out and buying "Chasing The Devil's Tail". It's right up my alley. Thanks Lois.

Also, you might be interested in "Portrait of a Killer", which is the second of only two non-fiction books by one of my favourite crime authors, Patricia Cornwell.
The idea for the book was a facinating one. Use modern detective and forensic procedures, using the facts and evidence, still available, to solve the "Jack The Ripper" case. I think that she makes a credible case for who the serial killer actually was. I sent the book to a friend in NYC, after I read it, because I cound it so facinating. Maybe you've already read it, but, if you haven't, do. No jazz angle, just the "truth is stranger than fiction" one.

[Lois Gilbert]

Patricia, I actually haven't read it... I just put up the press release cause it sounded really good. I'm ashamed to say, I don't read anymore, except with my son or on a plane or train. I do all my reading on the computer. I loved all the James Patterson books with Alex Cross as the forensic PhD, but alas I haven't picked up even those books in a loooong time.

Portrait of a Killer sounds like it's right up my alley....