One part cold case, one part axe murderer, and a quart of salty humor—a hard-boiled cocktail of two darkly funny New Orleans mysteries bundled into one!
Laid-back New Orleans lawyer Tubby Dubonnet finds himself caught in a twisted trip down memory lane, distracted by a luscious new love, chasing down an axe murderer, and, as usual, surrounded by screwball denizens of everybody's favorite city in these 8th and 9th installments of the award-winning Tubby Dubonnet legal thriller mystery series.
Vol 1 – THE NIGHTWATCHMAN - SOME MEAN-ASS CHICKENS COME HOME TO ROOST in this EIGHTH entry in the Tubby Dubonnet series.
When in the 1970s a young war protester is killed in broad daylight on Canal Street, it appears that his murder will be forgotten, a back page story lost in the big news of an especially violent era. But a youthful Tubby chanced to see it happen, and the tragic event's haunted him throughout his life. Decades later, an established (but not exactly driven) lawyer, yet successful enough to have time on his hands, Tubby decides to conduct his own investigation into the forgotten crime. He quickly stirs up a hornets’ nest of far-reaching political feuds, police corruption, government agents, and old men with secrets to hide.
But as in all Tubby Dubonnet novels, the plot takes a backseat to local color, colorful characters, odes to fine food, wry observations, and a whole lot of humor. It's a little like spending a weekend in da Big Easy, dawlin'--complete with three well-chosen meals a day!
Vol 2 – FAT MAN BLUES – The NINTH installment in Tony Dunbar’s humorous, hard-boiled Tubby Dubonnet mystery series
Ex-con Angelo Spooner is trying to start a legit business, but he just can’t catch a break. Just as his healing Holy Water, “Angelo’s Elixir†is about to go upscale, the sticky strands of the Big Sleazy’s tangled web of crime and corruption reach out to ensnare him. What’s a law-abiding parolee to do? He can’t get caught with a gun, but maybe that axe in his shed could help him extricate himself. But when low-level creep Frenchy Dufour’s henchman turns up nearly beheaded, Angelo’s fate rests in the capable hands of laid-back lawyer Tubby Dubonnet.
Tubby’s been trying hard to lay low, too. As those closest to him are targeted by frightening attacks, he suspects his dealings with the clandestine society of Cuban exiles who’ve plagued him lately are far from over. Tubby would love to have nothing further to do with “that crazy band of geriatric lunaticsâ€. But the old Cuban revolutionaries have taught their sons well. Now their grandchildren, heirs to a substantial cache of weapons and money, burn with a dangerous zeal to prove themselves.
Meanwhile … a man’s got to eat! The epicurean counselor does his best thinking when he’s well-fed. Our good luck! –as we vicariously sample our way across New Orleans’ culinary panorama on the hunt for an axe murderer. But sleuth does not live by bread alone—even in a Tony Dunbar legal thriller. Ignoring his own advice to his client to “keep your head on your shouldersâ€, Tubby’s lost his to the lovely Peggy O’Flarity. It’s about time Tubby had some steamy sex – and maybe a little happiness? But fortune teller Sister Soulace has her doubts.
WHO WILL LIKE IT: Fans of Tremé, softshell crab po’ boys, Domilise’s, the Upperline Restaurant…wait, let’s start over—ok, legal mysteries, particularly Parnell Hall’s Steve Winslow series and anything by Lia Matera, comic mysteries, Elmore Leonard, funny lawyer movies like My Cousin Vinny, TV shows like Ally McBeal and Night Court; and everyone’s favorite New Orleans yarn, Confederacy of Dunces.
