AUTHOR: David Fulmer
Reading the last book in this series (Valentin St. Cyr Mysteries) felt, to me, like watching the finale to a beloved TV show. My first thought was the hope that the author didn't screw it up.
As with the other reprint volumes from Crescent City Books, this one was flawed with poor proofing. I wish I had access to the original volumes to compare and see if they were similarly flawed. But the missing words, grammatical errors, and other oopsies didn't hurt my enjoyment of what was a satisfying end for the series.
True, there were some plot points that seemed to really stretch things, but the return of a few characters from past books was worth it. The story is set primarily on the last day of Storyville before that New Orleans Red-Light District is legislated out of existence. On that last night, Valentin and a number of police officers are patrolling Storyville to keep violence that is likely to erupt to a minimum. In addition, Valentin has gathered info about the corruption that fueled the end of Storyville and a hired killer is stalking the District with plans to kill the private detective, but not until striking at the people Valentin cares about.
The tight timeframe leads to some indulgent character scenes that don't advance the story much, while other scenes ratchet up the tension. I was satisfied with the payoff, yet wouldn't mind reading another adventure or two about the early 20th-century Creole detective.
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