Lost River

October 6, 2008
In Shamus-winner Fulmer's enjoyable fourth mystery to feature Valentin St. Cyr (after 2006's Rampart Street
), the Creole detective must stop a crime wave in Storyville, New Orleans' legendary red-light district, in 1913. St. Cyr, who's been working for a respectable law firm in a better part of town, reluctantly decides to help his former employer, Tom Anderson (aka the king of Storyville), after a dead man with a bullet hole in his chest turns up in the parlor of one of Anderson's bordellos. Enter the contender for queen of Storyville, Evelyne Dallencort, a jaded society matron and her equally jaded young lover, Louis Jacob, and the body count rises. With his usual lucid prose, Fulmer details the grubby “crib” life that exploited scores of women prostitutes while padding rich men's wallets. At times, though, the cartoonish Dallencort sounds too much like a modern woman who's wandered into the wrong book. Still, those looking for some jazzy early 20th-century chills won't be disappointed.

Starred review from November 1, 2008
It is 1913, and the city of New Orleans is wide open to graft, greed, and murder. Creole detective Valentin St. Cyr ("Rampart Street") once again gets embroiled in the business of Storyville, the Crescent City's red-light district, when a man is found dead in one of the more expensive brothels. It is not immediately clear what is happening, but Tom Anderson, King of Storyville, is apparently not up to protecting his domain. Having given his word to help, St. Cyr risks everything to find who is murdering the male patrons of Storyville and why. Fans of hard-boiled writers like Raymond Chandler, Bill Pronzini, and James Lee Burke will enjoy Shamus Award winner Fulmer's latest. Highly recommended.

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2008
After two stand-alones, Fulmer returns to his Valentin St. Cyr series, set in turn-of-the-century New Orleans. St. Cyr, the Creole detective, has sworn off his life as a fixer for Storyville boss Tom Anderson, hoping to cement his relationship with former prostitute Justine. Then bodies start turning up around Storyvilles high-class brothels, and St. Cyr is drawn back into his old life. But are the murders only catnip to lure the Creole into a deadly trap? Fulmer tends to rework familiar themesSt. Cyrs determination to escape Storyville, for examplebut his feel for atmosphere and his increasingly subtle hand with character development keep the series from going stale. The latter is particularly evident this time in Fulmers more rounded portrayals of the aging Anderson, his run as de facto mayor of Storyville nearly over, and the steel-willed Justine, the one-time prostitute determined to find a new life, even it means giving up St. Cyr. Early on, this series main appeal was its setting, but now it can hold its own with the most character-driven of historical mysteries.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)