attytheresa's review
4.0
While I read this, I realized I knew basicaly nothing about the Blues, the history, those who made the music, those who chase after the music now, the legends. After reading this superb noir detective story, I know a bit more, but I also now know what an incredible setting the Blues makes for contemporary American noir.
It was a baring of the soul that chafed a man's spirit raw, a deceitful woman, being broke, and a painful loneliness of a man living in sensory deprivation, cut off from sound and human contact
Nick Travers walked away from a pro career with the Saints and settled into a somewhat aimless life, hanging out in JoJo's Blues Bar while researching and writing about blues legends, and occasionally teaching a course on the history of blues at Tulane. You get very much a sense that Nick is a bit of a dabbler, a bit rootless, holding the world a little bit at a distance. He's a loner. The Blues is predominantly a black community, and Nick is a white man on the fringes who seems to have been accepted into that world, especially in the jukes and back roads of the Delta, the birthplace of the Blues. And the Delta is where a Tulane colleague disappears while researching Robert Johnson, his death in 1938, and a legendary set of recordings that Johnson is rumored to have made just before his death, unheard by anyone.
While looking for his colleague, Nick himself becomes engrossed in the the stories and legends surrounding Robert Johnson and these mystery recordings. This is noir, so violence, death, hot women, hot music, dark and dingy bars, follow as Nick takes us from New Orleans to the Delta and back as he peels back the lies and legends to the real story. For the reader, it's less about following the clues and solving the mystery than it is sinking into the journey and experiencing the rich dark world presented here. At one point, Nick talks about a moment when he's sitting in front of the Tutwiler Murals (which actually exist):
...when the blues began to make sense. He could almost feel the early part of the century in a nowhere Mississippi town. Something clicked. It wasn't just the oppression. As a white man born in the sixties, there was no feasible way to understand that. It was the loneliness and the isolation in the center of the fertile region.
This is a debut and the first in a series of noir detective novels featuring Nick Travers. It is also an hommage to [a:Dashiell Hammett|16927|Dashiell Hammett|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1287255332p2/16927.jpg]'s [b:The Maltese Falcon|29999|The Maltese Falcon|Dashiell Hammett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1306421260l/29999._SY75_.jpg|980184], and a well-done one at that. There is some stunning writing here from the very beginning: On the way, mottled shadow patterns of oak leaves fell over him like jigsaws.
Many of the locations, stories, and Blues musicians are real, including Robert Johnson. Here's a recording of Johnson singing Crossroad's Blues which provides ambience and a title to this excellent noir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd60nI4sa9A.
Initially I had some trouble keeping track of characters and story although that is likely because I had little time to read initially. This is a book to lose yourself in and devour, not read over several days.
I read the 10th Anniversary edition which has a superb Afterward by Greil Marcus which provided additional information on Robert Johnson and his music.
It was a baring of the soul that chafed a man's spirit raw, a deceitful woman, being broke, and a painful loneliness of a man living in sensory deprivation, cut off from sound and human contact
Nick Travers walked away from a pro career with the Saints and settled into a somewhat aimless life, hanging out in JoJo's Blues Bar while researching and writing about blues legends, and occasionally teaching a course on the history of blues at Tulane. You get very much a sense that Nick is a bit of a dabbler, a bit rootless, holding the world a little bit at a distance. He's a loner. The Blues is predominantly a black community, and Nick is a white man on the fringes who seems to have been accepted into that world, especially in the jukes and back roads of the Delta, the birthplace of the Blues. And the Delta is where a Tulane colleague disappears while researching Robert Johnson, his death in 1938, and a legendary set of recordings that Johnson is rumored to have made just before his death, unheard by anyone.
While looking for his colleague, Nick himself becomes engrossed in the the stories and legends surrounding Robert Johnson and these mystery recordings. This is noir, so violence, death, hot women, hot music, dark and dingy bars, follow as Nick takes us from New Orleans to the Delta and back as he peels back the lies and legends to the real story. For the reader, it's less about following the clues and solving the mystery than it is sinking into the journey and experiencing the rich dark world presented here. At one point, Nick talks about a moment when he's sitting in front of the Tutwiler Murals (which actually exist):
...when the blues began to make sense. He could almost feel the early part of the century in a nowhere Mississippi town. Something clicked. It wasn't just the oppression. As a white man born in the sixties, there was no feasible way to understand that. It was the loneliness and the isolation in the center of the fertile region.
This is a debut and the first in a series of noir detective novels featuring Nick Travers. It is also an hommage to [a:Dashiell Hammett|16927|Dashiell Hammett|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1287255332p2/16927.jpg]'s [b:The Maltese Falcon|29999|The Maltese Falcon|Dashiell Hammett|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1306421260l/29999._SY75_.jpg|980184], and a well-done one at that. There is some stunning writing here from the very beginning: On the way, mottled shadow patterns of oak leaves fell over him like jigsaws.
Many of the locations, stories, and Blues musicians are real, including Robert Johnson. Here's a recording of Johnson singing Crossroad's Blues which provides ambience and a title to this excellent noir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd60nI4sa9A.
Initially I had some trouble keeping track of characters and story although that is likely because I had little time to read initially. This is a book to lose yourself in and devour, not read over several days.
I read the 10th Anniversary edition which has a superb Afterward by Greil Marcus which provided additional information on Robert Johnson and his music.
lauraellis's review
3.0
The detective is a blues musician and scholar and former professional football player who lives in New Orleans. The flavor of all of this, which I feel is well-executes, makes for a good setting for mysteries. The supporting characters are also interesting.
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