New Orleans and its diverse inhabitants shine in Edgar-Award winning author Julie Smith’s, The Talba Wallis PI Series. Meet the hottest detective duo in New Orleans–she’s Queen Latifah. He’s Danny DeVito. Or they would be if this were a movie–in print, they’re Talba Wallis and Eddie Valentino. Talba’s got the beauty, the brains, the computer savvy, the poetic soul,the youth, the right demographic, and the sass. Eddie’s got the detective agency. Also a short fuse and yes, wisdom. Not only do they make it work, they’ve got chemistry. Enjoy!

Louisiana Hotshot: A Humorous New Orleans Murder Mystery; Talba Wallis #1 (The Talba Wallis PI Series)
Julie Smith
4.0 Stars (52 Reviews)
Genre: African American | United States | Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

WANTED: HOTSHOT P.I. WITH NEAR SUPER-HUMAN SKILLS.

Confirmed grump Eddie Valentino placed the ad. Hotshot twenty-something Talba Wallis knew exactly how to answer it.

And thus was born the dynamic duo of New Orleans private detectives, one cynical, sixty-five-year-old Luddite white dude with street smarts, and one young, bright-eyed, Twenty-First century African-American female poet, performance artist, mistress of disguise, and computer jock extraordinaire. Think Queen Latifah and Danny DeVito.

In Louisiana Hotshot, their job is to hunt down a sociopath and pedophile who’s molested the fourteen-year-old daughter of their client, hangs out on the ragged edges of the rap and recording industries, and has more powerful allies than a Cabinet member.

But both detectives have unfinished business from the past—in Eddie’s case, something he deeply regrets; in Talba’s, a personal mystery, one so frightening no one will help her investigate. But she knows she won’t sleep till she solves it—and the truth will change her forever.

Excerpt:

They were not eyes that cried, they were themselves the tears; they were the fatal tip-off that that mutilated and now aggressively armored soul needed to be kissed and made well. That the imaginary tears must be wiped away: crying, desperate eyes replaced by the carefree, corner-crinkled eyes of a man who has just been made to laugh by his beloved; or the devoted, follow-you-to-the-grave eyes of a man who has just made love to her. Or to anyone. Or to a plank with a mink-lined hole in it.

Oh, yes. Talba was not only under thirty, but well under twenty-five, and already she knew everything about eyes like that—everything except what they meant when they were underscored by velvet-soft pouches so big they needed a bra; so bloodstained, so seemingly bruised you wanted to order emergency ice.

When Eddie Valentino spoke again, interrupting her silent ocular love song, she nearly did a double take. “I’ll think about it, Ms. Wallis.”

“You’ll think about it? Here I stay up half the night to show you what I can do, and then I get here before sunrise, and you’ll think about it?”

And for the first time in the interview, sad, soulful Eddie Valentino really did smile—a broad, amused, gotcha smile. “I thought it only took you ten minutes. Hour and a half at the most.”

“I’m making a point, Mr. Valentino. I tend to exaggerate when I’m making a point. And the point is, I’m your hotshot. Who else was here before your door opened with a complete dossier on you? I mean, what’s the definition of a hotshot?”

He smiled again, “You’re a ball of fire, all right. I just gotta sleep on it, that’s all.”

“Oh. Well.” Twice Talba had made him smile. Maybe that’s what her mission was; maybe that was all she was meant to do. Of course he had to sleep on it. What was she thinking?

I’m believing my own P.R., she thought, and felt embarrassed. What did I think he was going to do? Welcome me like a long-lost

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Louisiana Bigshot: A Humorous New Orleans Mystery; Talba Wallis #2
Julie Smith
4.4 Stars (23 Reviews)
Genre: African American | Mystery, Thriller & Suspense | United States

Louisiana Bigshot is the SECOND book in the Talba Wallis mystery series by Edgar Award-winning author Julie Smith.

“Talba Wallis has to be one of the most distinctive female detectives in the business. Her personality and her poetry are riveting reasons to read this book.” —The Times-Picayune, New Orleans

“Smith has launched Talba Wallis on a welcome series of her own. Wallis is fine fun to get to know… a consistently interesting and likable woman of depth and complexity.” —The Washington Post

“Smith has perfect pitch. It’s great to hear her again … Smith gives us a multilayered mystery and a quirky, believable heroine.” —Booklist

“Smith’s new series is a whole other kettle of crayfish: wilder and funnier.” —Chicago Tribune

Talba Wallis and Eddie Valentino will need every skill and ounce of courage they can summon in this intricate tale of a decades-old conspiracy only now coming home to roost, with the murder of Talba’s friend Babalu Maya. Babalu is actually Clayton Robineau, daughter of the local banker in a small Louisiana town that bears her name, a town buried under the weight of its own malevolent past.

Something terrible happened to Clayton as a child, but it was far from the usual “something terrible”. As Talba and Eddie investigate, they find it was an injury—both pscyhic and physical–so bizarre, so shameful and damning that almost anyone in town would kill to cover it up. Or so it seems to the New Orleans duo as they dodge bullets and what passes for the law in this malignant enclave, fetid with the rot of its corruption, yet determined to keep its sordid skeletons buried.

Never did Faulkner’s words ring so true as in Clayton, Louisiana: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

*Author’s note: It’s based on a real event.

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Louisiana Lament : A Humorous New Orleans Mystery; Talba Wallis PI Series #3
Julie Smith
4.4 Stars (21 Reviews)
Genre: African American | United States | Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Louisiana Lament is the THIRD book in the Talba Wallis mystery series by Edgar-winning author Julie Smith.

“From biker bar to college campus, the chase is on … readers will remain hooked until the killer’s comeuppance in the clever conclusion.” -Publisher’s Weekly

“Vibrant. ” -Booklist on Louisiana Lament

“It’s Stephanie Plum with Tabasco, dawlin’.” -The Clarion Ledger, Jackson, MS

Nobody knew who she really was … but her parties were to die for!

In Louisiana Lament, P.I.s Talba Wallis and Eddie Valentino—Talba’s young, African-American, computer-brilliant, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and a noted poet by night; Eddie’s pushing seventy, white, hopelessly tech-challenged, and pretty much burned out. Somehow, they make it work—with Talba’s tech-and-street smarts, and Eddie’s old-school hard-earned savvy, they even complement each other.

One stormy day Talba gets an emergency call from Janessa, the sister she barely knows, and arrives to find a body floating in a swimming pool—the mortal husk of Allyson Brown, known in New Orleans literary circles as the Girl Gatsby. Like Gatsby, Allyson was one of those mysterious rich people who move to town, give amazing parties, and seem made of moonbeams.

Investigating, Talba finds the reality behind the Gatsby glamour. Allyson was a con artist who neglected her children, ignored her bills, and lied like a rug. But she wasn’t the only bad actor on the local literary scene. Fellow poet Rashad leads Talba a merry chase, leaving a trail of clues in the form of poetry, while novelists engage in fisticuffs, unseemly preening, and unforgivable arrogance.

Before it’s all over, Talba finds out just how seamy, petty, and downright murderous her fellow literati can be.

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PI On A Hot Tin Roof : A New Orleans Cozy Mystery; Talba Wallis #4 (The Talba Wallis PI Series)
Julie Smith
4.4 Stars (15 Reviews)
Genre: African American | United States | Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

The FOURTH mystery in Edgar-winning author Julie Smith’s Talba Wallis series.

“…the fun, frenetic pace of a typical Talba Wallis caper. This is an effective mix of household drama, political corruption, and old-style murder mystery.” -Booklist

“If you haven’t read Smith before, this is the time to start. If you’re a fan, you’re in for yet another tread.” – Marcia Muller, bestselling author of Dead Midnight

Your lawyer needs you to bail her out? Isn’t that kind of backwards?

So thinks PI Talba Wallis, on her way to Parish Prison—and indeed something’s badly amiss.

New Orleans’ most dynamic detective duo, poet/computer genius Talba and street-savvy Luddite Eddie Valentino, have a personal interest in this one—Eddie’s lawyer daughter Angie’s been set up for a drug bust.

Prominent Judge Buddy Champagne’s the obvious perp and Talba’s so mad she embeds herself in his house as a spy—but she doesn’t count on ending up with a family straight out of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; nor did she realize how involved she was going to get—especially with Buddy’s 14-year-old daughter Lucy.

It works, though, She uncovers plenty of evidence the judge is dirty. And then things get ugly: Somebody kills Buddy and Talba’s true identity comes to light. The Champagnes hate her at this point, but guess what? They hire her to solve the case.

There are plenty of mysterious twists and turns on the way to an ending guaranteed to surprise—but the real joy here is in the relationships, especially Talba’s with Lucy, who, it turns out, is a budding poet. And with another little girl, her boy friend’s bratty daughter Raisa. She’s SO not prepared for quasi-motherhood!

“(Talba) Wallis is fine fun to get to know… a consistently interesting and likable woman of depth and complexity.” -The Washington Post on Louisiana Bigshot

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