Welcome to the world of self-help groups: AA, OA, CODA, Al-Anon, etc. Well, also Southern behaviour, couched as "niceties, heat and humidity, and the weirdness that is New Orleans.

3½* were that possible. ( )

Who needs Mardi Gras. New Orleans has plenty of reasons to celebrate, and when a serial killer sends a letter to the press indicating that he is ready to kill again, but will pass over any home hosting a jazz band, the city responds with parties city-wide. The police are concerned as they have already started looking for the killer after two people with almost no human connections are strangled and a large red "A" is left on the wall. The connection seems to be 12-step meetings, and the police, notably new homicide detective Skip Langford, start attending meetings, learning more than any of them wanted to know about themselves and other friends and family members who "enjoy" the anonymity that such meetings offer. Definitely a page turner, and one I highly recommend. Fortunately, there are a series of Skip Langford books, and the detective even appears in the Talba Wallis series. You go girl! ( )

When it appears that a serial killer is loose in New Orleans, homicide cop Skip Langdon is assigned to the investigative team. The killer claims to be the Axeman, a legendary New Orleans serial killer from seventy years earlier. The few leads in the case converge in the city's twelve step groups. Skip goes undercover in the groups to see if she can flush out the killer.

The book doesn't work well as a police procedural. Skip doesn't act like a police officer. She seems more like a private detective or even an amateur, and her personality is more like that of a cozy sleuth. However, many cozy readers would be put off by the profanity and graphic sexual language. Most of the twelve step group scenes were enjoyable enough that I stuck with it, but I doubt that I'll ever read another book in this series. ( )

The Axeman’s Jazz: a Skip Langdon Mystery. Julie Smith. 1991. This series is interesting because it is set in New Orleans: “New Orleans could wreck your liver and poison your blood. It could destroy you financially. It could shun you or embrace you, teach you tricks of the heart you thought Tennessee Williams was just kidding about.” The writer includes interesting observations about southerners. In explaining her family’s objection to her chosen career, Skip states, “You did what you did because things had always been done that way and because someone else wanted you to. Not because there was any point in hell to it.” Skip is assigned to investigate a quirky murder in the Quarter and then a second body turns up. The only link between the two is that they both attended self-help twelve step support groups. Skip and several other police personnel are assigned to go to these meetings where they meet an assortment of interesting possible suspects and eventually identify the murderer. Smith won an Edgar for the first book in this series. ( )

a serial killer in New Orleans turns out to be a victim of family dynamics