Molly Martin's Book Review

Since this review Walker Jackson has changed the protagonist from Harry Walker to Hackney McTrite. That's all that's changed. 

Entertaining Read………. Highly Recommended………. Five Stars

The Review: While Hackney works on his book; his wife Sarah ponders where on earth her husband may be. Sarah returned to New Orleans not too long after ‘Big Al,’ Alphonse Infantino was sent to prison. Now that it is known that Sarah did not die in the crash engineered by the mob boss, Big Al is released from prison and returns to New Orleans as well. He still hates Hackney and after serving five months in prison Alphonse is still bent upon revenge.

Sarah is put into protective custody. Hackney thinking Sarah was killed and her remains cremated woos a Parisian, lives through the sinking of the boat where he has been living for the past several months, continues working on his book. And Alphonse plots. All the characters, settings and intrigue we enjoyed in Walker Joe Jackson’s first book Private Dick Hackney McTrite are back in Vieux Carré Pillow Strangler. Madame Pompadour, Sarah, Sgt. Murray, Alphonse Infantino and his attorney crony Bloomberg are once again embroiled in a cutthroat complot. Both New Orleans and Paris come alive against a tapestry embellished with scents, sights and sounds taken from the vivid thoughts and remembered experiences of the well traveled author.

Vieux Carré Pillow Strangler takes us once again to the Green Lizard, Po’ Boys and The Stage Door Canteen where Alphonse is determined to find where Hackney has taken refuge and kill him once and for a all. Hackney and his disguises fooled Alphonse the first time around, the mob boss is determined that this time things will be different.

The reader is drawn into the account from the opening lines as we listen in on the conversation between Alphonse and Bloomberg. Sarah, now carrying a .38 in her purse ‘just in case’ is proving herself a gutsy, determined gal. Writer Jackson with his tongue thrust firmly into cheek sets down a thoroughly enjoyable narrative. Filled with the same twists and turns encountered in the first in the series Vieux Carré Pillow Strangler is a dandy second in the series.

Author Walker obviously has great fun with his writing. His characters are fresh and funny with their jaded repartee and cliché ridden moves. Red herrings appear in all the expected in addition to those sneaky unexpected places as well. Vieux Carré Pillow Strangler with all the plot twists and turns we recognize as a true Walker Joe Jackson effect is a story within a story as we unravel both the ‘taken from life’ tale Hackney weaves along with the one surrounding Sarah, Alphonse and Hackney himself.

A delightful read for a lazy afternoon spent in the porch swing with a tall iced tea or mint julep nearby. Watch the red herrings, they are meant to befuddle, disorient and confuse the reader.
Reviewed by: molly martin