Tishomingo Blues

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
There's no arguing that Elmore "Dutch" Leonard remains the coolest of the cool in the arena of humorous crime writing. Earlier in his career, Leonard wrote more realistic and much darker cop 'n' killer fiction before he found his hipster streak and mined it like no one else before or since. His crackling dialogue snaps like jazzy blues riffs, and his signature ultra-lean style and droll wit have set the bar by which all such novels are measured.

With Tishomingo Blues Leonard has managed to raise the bar once again. Here's the story of Dennis Lenahan, a world-class high-diving champ now working his act at carnivals and amusement parks. When he approaches Billy Darwin, a Mississippi casino mogul, and proposes to perform his dives from 80 feet above Darwin's hotel, he enters a world of hipster criminals and amiable con men. Dennis's new assistant, who helps set up the rigging, is barely around for a day before two members of the Dixie Mafia come along and put five in the back of his head while Dennis is at the top of the platform. Although he knows enough to keep his mouth shut, Dennis is quickly drawn into a world where the South still battles the North and every grinning face disguises a secret agenda. With a climax that takes place during a Civil War reenactment, the novel is somewhat reminiscent of Peter Abrahams's wonderful Last of the Dixie Heroes.

Although Leonard's breakneck pace and complex plotting are top-notch, everyone knows that it's his bizarre cast of characters and laugh-out-loud dialogue that make his novels such a treat. Weird and lovable criminals (even the hit men are so outrageous you grow fond of them), thugs, miscreants, fallen celebrities, and wealthy deviants all populate the story and bring it to delightfully crazy life. (Tom Piccirilli)

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Dennis is a daredevil and the girls love him. Things are going along okay with his gig at the Tishomingo Lodge & Casino in Tunica, Mississippi, "the Casino Capital of the South," until the day he looks down from the high-dive platform and witnesses a mob hit - Dixie style. The killer looks up and says, "Let's see you dive." Suddenly, being a daredevil has lost its kick." "Turns out there was a second witness, Robert Taylor from Detroit, who carries a picture of his great-granddaddy's lynching along with a gun in a briefcase and listens to Marvin Pontiac while cruising the back roads of Mississippi in his black jaguar. Robert works for a man from up north who has come to play Ulysses S. Grant in a Civil War battle reenactment, but, like Dennis, Robert has a death-defying act of his own: he's sleeping with his boss's wife. He also has a secret agenda for taking on the Cornbread Cosa Nostra and wants Dennis in on it." To complicate matters are the women - some dressed in hoop skirts and all of them with plans of their own. Vernice lures Dennis with the whitest thighs he's ever seen. Diane comes to do a story on him and wants to take him to Memphis. And still another comes along to give Dennis the surprise of his life. But it's the scams Robert Taylor plays, drawing Dennis into his game, that move the action through all kinds of unexpected twists and turns. Before he knows it, Dennis has agreed to join Robert in the battle reenactment, which leads to a showdown between the bad guys and the really bad guys.

SYNOPSIS

Dennis is a daredevil and the girls love him. Things are going along okay with his gig at the Tishomingo Lodge & Casino in Tunica, Mississippi, "the Casino Capital of the South," until the day he looks down from the high-dive platform and witnesses a mob hit -- Dixie style. The killer looks up and says, "Let's see you dive.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

The high quality of this polished, entertaining production comes as no surprise, as Leonard (Out of Sight; Get Shorty; etc.) is one of the most highly esteemed crime writers working today and Muller one of the most seasoned audiobook performers. The story centers on Dennis Lenahan, a high diver who lands a job performing at the Tishomingo Lodge & Casino in Tunica, Miss., but finds himself in hot water in the midst of an organized crime power struggle. As befits a Leonard novel, the proceedings are peppered by an interesting cast of characters making do on the fringes of conventional society. Muller ably portrays their many eccentricities and has the rare knack for performing the parts of the opposite sex in a way that sounds completely natural. He also captures the discerning, jazzman cool of Detroit gangster Robert Taylor; the thick, adenoidal twang of various members of the Dixie Mafia; and the comically ostentatious boastings of the hotel's resident celebrity, a former pitcher named Charlie who claims to have played in the 1984 World Series. The tension between them all builds toward a climactic Civil War reenactment, and listeners will find themselves alternately amused and intrigued by the many turns Leonard is able to muster. Based on the Morrow hardcover. (Jan.) Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

On the advance reading copy of this novel sent to PW, the title appears in blue letters half an inch high. Leonard's name floats above the title in red letters a full inch high. A Leonard novel is an event, and for good reason. Over the past 40 years, this writer has evolved into the undisputed champ of the American crime novel, and he hasn't lost a step. His new (and 37th) novel is one of his smoothest, a return to the South of Out of Sight (1996) and numerous earlier Leonards though this is the author's first foray into deep country Mississippi, birthplace of the blues. Men and women who scrape at the margins of the American dream are Leonard's forte, and here he presents several such folk, all memorable, beginning with his hero, Dennis Lenahan, a high diver who contracts for a gig to perform at the Tishomingo Lodge & Casino. While setting up his rig, Dennis witnesses a murder by local members of the Dixie Mafia. So, perhaps, does a mysterious, very slick black guy, Robert Johnson, down from the North in his Jag to run a con on a local powerbroker or so it seems. But Robert, who befriends Dennis, and the Detroit mobster and moll who join him at the Lodge & Casino, have other, more complicated, more ambitious plans, for Tishomingo, for the Dixie Mafia and for Dennis, plans that come to a head during the Civil War battle re-enactment that provides the unusual and fascinating backdrop for the book's second half. As usual, Leonard's characters walk onto the page as real as sunlight and shadow; the dialogue is dead-on, the loopy story line strewn with the unexpected, including sudden flourishes of romance and death. Prime Leonard, prime reading. (Feb. 1) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

No blues here: fans will be delighted to learn that Leonard is back with another raucous tale. Here, when a daredevil diver performing way down South happens to witness a murder by the local Dixie Mafia, he must team with a black gangsta from Detroit to save his skin. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

AudioFile

There are no good guys in Leonard's latest, but the bad guys are so numerous and diverse that their absence is hardly noticed. No race, ethnic group, or region of the country is smiled upon. And although the story includes seven fatal shootings, this is really a funny book. Frank Muller gives a virtuoso performance in bringing this large and varied cast to life. About half the voices are from Mississippi, ranging from TV anchor to backwoods redneck. The other half is composed of black, Hispanic, and Sicilian gangsters from Detroit. Add a Civil War battle reenactment, and you'll understand that this is a Muller performance to savor. R.E.K. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews