Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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"Rampart Street" by David Fulmer; Harcourt ($25)
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A century before New Orleans was destroyed by a hurricane and governmental ineptitude, the city was becoming a powerhouse for two reasons. One was its location, which made it a booming shipping port. The other was a new form of music known as jazz.
The city thrived despite - though some would argue, because of - the rampant corruption that had a few men controlling everything from the most profitable businesses to the lowest street hookers.
It's this New Orleans, circa 1910, that David Fulmer brings vividly to life in his Valentin St. Cyr mystery series. In the latest, "Rampart Street," the sense of place is so palpable you can almost hear the music.
One of the city's most powerful men is shot to death in the middle of the night on Rampart Street, one of the dirtiest, most crime-ridden areas of the city. It's not anywhere a respectable man like John Benedict should ever have been, let alone at 4 in the morning. His daughter, Anne Marie, insists on finding out why, though the answer is likely to bring scandal, not closure, to the family.
Creole detective Valentin is coerced into looking into the case by his one-time boss, the King of Storyville, as the New Orleans underworld is called. Valentin is just back from a self-imposed exile, weak and angry and burned out. All of Storyville's eyes are on him, wanting to see if this shell of a man can be the force he was in solving two previous, high-profile murder cases.
Valentin, whose mother was black and father was Italian, is mysterious and moody and haunted enough to be irresistible to women. Though he's meticulous in the way he follows the case, he's also brash and fool-hardy enough to anger potential witnesses.
As he slowly gets his legs back, things get dicier and bodies start dropping. Valentin's life is threatened as he comes closer to a plot that, disappointingly, isn't as shocking as it could have been. It's the only negative to an otherwise fine novel, but it's a big one.
Fulmer's writing is crisp and nuanced. His action sequences are as clear as his exposition. Characters are beautifully drawn with just a few words. A drug-addicted widow, her brandy-sipping daughter, a prostitute who loves Valentin and a street runner on the verge of becoming a Storyville player all inhabit important places in the plot, making them more than just local color and the book more than just a mystery.
These are characters readers can grow to like, and Valentin is a hero for whom it's easy to cheer. Let's hope for a better mystery next time.
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(c) 2006, Detroit Free Press. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service.
