Tishomingo Blues CD

Rating:
Summary: Tishomingo blues and greys
Review: ***1/2

I've read only a few of Elmore Leonard's works, mostly from early on. Besides the tight plotting, sinister edge, and note-perfect dialogue, they all carried a kind of implicit moral heft.

So, despite its being manifestly better than 90% of the crime novels out there on the top lists, I was a bit disappointed in this venture. The plot meanders, its wheels amiably clanking rather than being ominously greased, and the cold-blooded killers we're supposed to root for seem to have nothing over the ones we're supposed to root against, except for a better sense of style. There goes that moral heft.

The rest of the master's strengths are still on display, though. And if it's not a page turner throughout, there are only a few slow stretches. There's the aging, philandering high-diver. The endearingly daffy subculture of Civil War re-enactors. The smoothly enigmatic blues fan from Chicago, arranging for a victory in his turf war with the inept local Mafia, which he intends to be as precisely choreographed as the battle of Brice's Cross Roads.

They all make for solid entertainment. But on the whole this will become more memorable within the canon of films based on Leonard (once the inevitable movie is made) than within the canon of his books.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining but not involving
Review: A new Elmore Leonard novel is always a cause for celebration, even when the novel isn't one of his best. As "Tishomingo Blues," while funny, slick and sassy, is not. Leonard prefaces the book by expressing his intention, "to entertain myself: gather an odd assortment of characters, build a story as they bump heads, and see what happens."

The characters include Dennis Lenahan, a traveling high-dive champion who sees his daredevil career coming to a close; Robert Taylor, a smooth-talking black man from Detroit who descends on Tishomingo, Mississippi, with a fancy car and a photo of a lynching; several thuggish, real dumb redneck crackers, and a scheming real estate developer, Walter Kirkbride, with an enthusiasm for Civil War re-enactments. Plus a couple of cops, straight and otherwise, a gangster, a scheming wife and a few henchmen.

As the novel opens, Dennis, readying his act at the Tishomingo Hotel and Casino, witnesses a murder from 80 feet up. So does Robert, perhaps, watching Dennis from his hotel window. The two, Dennis and Robert, strike up a liking and Dennis soon realizes Robert has plans for the Dixie Mafia (the redneck murderers) and they may include him. The plot makes its merry meandering way to the big re-enactment, with sidetracks to romance and star turns from secondary characters. The re-enactment, depicted with a verisimilitude which does nothing to lessen its strangeness, brings the whole big cast together with hilariously choreographed, if fairly predictable results.

The dialogue is snappy and quick and the characters practically step off the page. But after a while the repartee is wearing and the characters lack the heart to engage the reader. It's Leonard, so it's good, but not his best.

Rating:
Summary: very entertaining
Review: I've seen Get Shorty, Out of Sight, and Jackie Brown but this was my first time reading one of Elmore Leonard's novels. It's obvious why his books are so popular in Hollywood; the story never drags, and his characterizations are dead-on perfect.

The plot includes a murder witnessed from an 80-foot high dive, a Mississippi casino, the Dixie Mafia, and various sexual liasons, all leading up to the climax at a Civil War reenactment. The main character is Dennis, a high diver who's another of Leonard's likable guys with a few flaws. The "good-guys", good being a relative thing with Leonard, are Robert, a Jag-driving streetwise gansta' from Detroit; Charlie, a Native American who may have pitched for the Tigers in the World Series; and John Rau, a straight-as-an-arrow lawman. Bad guys include an ex-deputy who runs the Dixie Mafia and his henchmen. A variety of other folks swirl in and out of the story.

What's best about this book is how even though you're never really sure what will happen next, the characters never do anything you wouldn't expect them to do. The people in Elmore Leonard's stories are smart, funny, sexy, and completely true to their motives. This will certainly not be the last of his books which I read.

Rating:
Summary: PENNED BY A MASTER - READ BY THE BEST!
Review: The name Elmore Leonard on a dust jacket signals the work of a master. What many may not know is that the name Frank Muller on an audio book means it has been performed by a master.

As a voice artist Muller has narrated books by Stephen King, John Grisham, Peter Straub and John le Carre, always with precise enunciation and an almost preternatural understanding of the characters. Such is also the case with Mississippi based "Tishomingo Blues," a terrific tale of a high diver who looked down from his platform one day to see murder committed.

He's not the only one with good eyes - the crime is witnessed by another, Robert Taylor, who is employed by a fellow who has come to play General Grant in the reenactment of a Civil War battle. Robert's quite a character. He totes a picture of his great-grandfather's lynching and a gun in his briefcase, and burns the back roads in an ebony Jaguar. Oh, and by the way, he's having an affair with his boss's wife. Whatever else Robert does is vintage Leonard at his captivating best.

The dialogue is crisp; the action is non-stop.

"Tishomingo Blues" is written and read by the best in their fields.

- Gail Cooke