Beautiful Crescent: A History of New Orleans Ninth Edition

 Beautiful Crescent: A History of New Orleans Ninth Edition by Joan B. Garvey and Mary Lou Widmer-336 pages

⭐⭐⭐

Synopsis: Originally written by Joan B. Garvey and Mary Lou Widmer, this book is widely regarded as the definitive text for tourists, locals, teachers, and students. Complete with a new forward by Barbara Robichaux, a professional French Quarter tour guide, this concise history directs the reader through the diverse traditions and cultures of New Orleans. The updates in this tricentennial edition celebrate the 300-year history of New Orleans, with chapters including details of the city's founding, changing European rule, slavery, and much more. With lists of notable figures and events, this reference volume is a must for historians, tour guides, and lovers of the Big Easy.

Thoughts: I picked this up from William Faulkner Books in New Orleans while there. This bookstore is in the house where Faulkner wrote his first novel, thus the name. It is a good overview of New Orleans history. However, not all of the facts presented are 100% accurate (i.e. the authors say that at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 2,000 British were killed and only 7 Americans were killed. However, there were approx. 2,034 British casualties which included killed, wounded, and missing or captured. Only 291 were killed. 13 Americans were killed among 71 casualties). I did a quick Google search and found the 2 corroborating sources with the same statistics. Also, the writing style isn't very academic like one might expect from a book on history. It's more vernacular and everyday language instead of more academic. A few words are outdated and one in particular is considered offensive today (this book was published in 2017). Overall, it's a good overview of the history of New Orleans, as I said, but with a few drawbacks. 

A Private Cathedral by James Lee Burke

 Detective Dave Robicheaux gets caught up in a New Iberia family feud when two wealthy families just can't seem to work out their differences.  An added hint of supernatural sightings makes this southern mystery too good to pass up.  Book 23 in the Robicheaux series, Burke continues to pleases his readers with his descriptive writing that takes you along for the ride.

New Orleans Rush by Kelly Siskind

New Orleans Rush by Kelly Siskind -- 310 pages

Falling for your surly boss is a rotten idea.
Letting him saw you in half is even worse...

Beatrice Baker may be a struggling artist, but she believes all hardships have silver linings...until she follows her boyfriend to New Orleans and finds him with another woman. Instead of turning those lemons into lemonade, she drinks lemon drop martinis and keys the wrong man's car.

Now she works for Huxley Marlow of the Marvelous Marlow Boys, getting shoved in boxes as an on-stage magician's assistant. A cool job for some, but Bea's been coerced into the role to cover her debt. She also maybe fantasizes about her boss's adept hands and what else they can do. She absolutely will not fall for him, or kiss him senseless. Until she does. The scarred, enigmatic Huxley has unwittingly become her muse, unlocking her artistic dry spell, but his vague nightly activities are highly suspect. The last time Beatrice trusted a man, her bank account got drained and she almost got arrested. Surely this can't end that badly...right?

Midnight Bayou by Nora Roberts

Midnight Bayou by Nora Roberts - 368 pages

Declan bought Manet Hall when it went on the market after seeing once in college.  Now he's moved to New Orleans to restore the old plantation manor.  What he didn't expect was to meet the love of his life . . . or that the plantation was haunted by malevolent ghosts.

This was an interesting read by Nora Roberts.  The main stories were the romance and ghost story.  You could tell it was an older book as the character smoked and this is the first time I've read a book in a long time that had main character that smoked.

The Veil by Chloe Neill

The Veil by Chloe Neill - 352 pages
Devil's Isle Book 1, Published 08/15/15

Prolific urban fantasy author Neill hits the mark with the beginning of this new series set in New Orleans after a supernatural invasion through an interdimensional veil and lengthy war.  Claire Connolly is a human trying to survive in post-war New Orleans with a terrible secret, she's a Sensitive (meaning that magic seeping through the veil has given her powers.)  The government in the form of the Containment agency keeps tabs on magic users / paranormals and incarcerates them on Devil's Isle.  Claire's secret is discovered by a bounty hunter and this leads her into making connections with an underground network that challenges all that she thought to be true about who was really the bad guy in the war spurred by the invasion from the veil.  I'm looking forward to the next installment.

Blacksad: A Silent Hell (v 4), by Juan Diaz Canales, 112 pages

Blacksad: A Silent Hell (v 4), by Juan Diaz Canales, 112 pages

The Blacksad books are simply beautiful works of graphic art- Juanjo Guarnido, the illustrator, does the whole piece with watercolors- which is a challenging medium that he makes sing.  The story itself is also quite good- Blacksad is a 1950s PI so it has a noir feel, with mystery and twists and a fair amount of bittersweetness.  When Blacksad is hired to find a missing jazz pianist in New Orleans, he thinks it will be routine- but he gets swept into a mystery involving drugs, poison, corruption, and a couple of near-death experiences.  This is an outstanding comic with incredible detail- the bonus was that at the end, the author and illustrator showcase some of the preliminary sketches and explain the choices in color and techniques- a really interesting look into the "making of."

Creole Belle by James Lee Burke

Creole Belle by James Lee Burke - 544 pages

The last Dave Robicheaux novel left the reader with such a cliff hanger that any description of the plot of this book would be a spoiler.  All I will say is that all the elements that we all love in the Robicheaux books are present in huge amounts.  The landscape of New Orleans and bayou is so detailed it is a character in its own right.  I enjoyed this book but is has such an overwhelming sense of mood about it that can make the experience of reading it a heavy one.