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Summary: A CON MAN'S GAME IN CIVIL WAR UNIFORM
Review: Unlike a lot of other reviewers here, I am not that familiar with Elmore Leonard's work. I am at a disadvantage because I can't compare this novel to his other writing, but that works as an advantage too. I came to it without any preconceived notions based on his other writings.What Leonard has done in TISHOMINGO BLUES is to set a gangster war in the center of a re-enactment of a Civil War battle and located the whole thing in a semi-rural, somewhat redneck, contemporary southern city; albeit, a city with gambling resorts. To add spice to this setting, the main protagonist, Dennis Lenahan, is a carnival daredevil who dives into a tank of water from a height of 80 feet. Further added to the mix is protagonist number two, blues lover and con man extraordinaire, Robert Taylor from Detroit. There is no shortage of "evil-doers" in TISHOMINGO BLUES. Even the good guys are bad guys, just more likeable. They're our bad guys. On the side of our good bad guys is Germano "Jerry" Mularoni, Detroit gangster. On the other side, the first rank "baddies" are Arlin Novis, Juniper "Junebug" Owens, and Jim "Fish" Rein. Non-aligned is John Rau, a member of the Criminal Investigation Bureau. For color, we have Charlie, a one subject huckster, whose only subject of conversation is the two innings of Major League Baseball he once pitched. There are also several other lesser characters includingling Tonto, an aptly named side-kick. For love interest there are a few Southern Women with names like Verline and Loretta. Put this whole bunch in Civil War Uniforms, both Union and Confederate, arm them, and give every one of them a reason to "do in" some or all of the others, and you have Leonard's plot in a nutshell. There are no clean motives in this book. There are no moral issues to be decided. This said, Leonard does work up our sympathies for the two protagonists and before the sun sets on the battlefield (actually, even before it rises) we know for whom we're rooting, whatever their motives. That's one of the beauties of Leonard's writing, we know who our crooks are. I found TISHOMINGO BLUES worth reading just to find out who does what to whom and how and when.
Rating: 
Summary: Reading this won't give you the "Blues."
Review: Elmore Leonard, King of the Crime Novel, returns with a new publisher for his thirty-seventh book. This time out the author heads for the Deep South, probing the dirty doings in the Delta Blues area of Mississippi. With casinos comes corruption, and Tunica, Miss. has its share of both -- thus giving Leonard an excellent setting to work his magic. Dennis Lenahan is a high diver, one of those daredevils who jumps off an eighty foot tower into a plastic swimming pool with a foot of water in it. As you'd expect, he's one cool customer. Cooler still is his new friend Robert Taylor, a jive-talking gangster from De-troit who's gone down South to run a con based on a hundred-year-old postcard of a lynching -- or so he says, anyway. As you'd expect from Leonard, the wit is sharp, the characters are delightfully bent, and the dialogue is honed to a razor's edge. Robert is one of the author's best creations, his sporty Jag and penchant for the Blues tasty accents to his wise patter. The plot of "Tishomingo Blues," though, lacks the mystery and intrigue of a typical Leonard novel. Most of the time this reads more like a Carl Hiaasen "buncha whackos" story than the crime gems that we've come to expect from Dutch. Even if the plot isn't his best, however, all the other Leonard elements are in place, and that makes "Tishomingo Blues" a book well worth reading. Reviewed by David Montgomery, MysteryInkOnline.com
Rating:
Summary: Nobody does characterizations better
Review: Dennis Lenahan is a professional show diver. He travels the US looking for the opportunity to showcase his talents. It is in Tunica, Mississippi that he lands a job doing a diving show at the Tishomingo Lodge and Casino. While there he befriends many of the eccentric characters including many women and a black gangster from Detroit named Robert Taylor. After inadvertently witnessing the execution of his helper by the local mob, Dennis feels his own life is in danger and accepts the friendship of Robert Taylor who soon pulls him into his scheme to take over the drug trade of Tunica from the local boys. The showdown will occur at a Civil war reenactment. The art of characterization is what Elmore Leonard does best. In fact, he may very well do it better than anyone else. This latest book is no exception to that. The plot can be a bit flimsy but it is the characters that bring it to life. Humor is also interspersed with the relatively casual and emotion free murders. The use of a Civil War reenactment provides a clever yet lighthearted approach to the ludicrous behavior of the bad guys and the really bad guys.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting moral dilemna and well done characters
Review: Professional high diver Dennis Lenahan knows that he's too old for the carnival circuit. Becoming an attraction at a Mississippi casino seems like the right answer--at least for a while. When he witnesses a murder while on his diving platform, Dennis is thrown into a world of Dixie Mafia, illegal drugs, and the opportunity for more money than he's ever dreamed of. His new friend, Robert, introduces Dennis to a family of blues music that might be real, or might simply be Robert's fantasy. Which is pretty much the story for Robert as a whole. Dennis wants to believe him, but Robert insists on involving him more and more deeply in a conflict between drug clans--all played out in a civil war re-enactment. Eventually Dennis is forced to confront his moral values--or admit that he really doesn't have any, and the blues may be his only guidance. Author Elmore Leonard writes compellingly about the morally ambivalent world of professional crime and men trying to make their way through the world. Dennis is an interesting hero--not completely amoral but certainly not endowed with any special respect for the authorities. Robert is an entertaining and compelling foil to Dennis--intelligent, experienced, and completely without any morals, yet still likable and in control both of himself and those around him. Fans of Leonard's fiction will want to pick this one up--it's definitely a winner. Those new to Leonard will want to read more--(I'll recommend the immortal STICK (buy it from Amazon) as Leonard's best although he is perhaps better known for GET SHORTY (buy it from Amazon)).
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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
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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.
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Summary: Liked this book
Review: I liked this book, and I also like Mr. Paradise. Leonard is an acquired taste, in my opinion, but everyone should try at least one of his books. Leonard's writing style is always a pleasure, full of wit and sly observations that most of the rest of us miss. The premise was interesting in this book also, as was the connecting of the different characters. Also liked "The Last Juror" by Grisham and "The Bark of the Dogwood" by Jackson McCrae.
Rating: 
Summary: Weird...
Review: A high-diver performer witnesses a murder while standing on top of his dive ladder, and he tries to decide whether to admit to it or not. Meanwhile, he's befriended by a black guy who is trying to move into the drug business in this small town. His plan is to kill off the main people currently running it during a Civil War reenactment. Weird plot twists and you never know what is going on until it happens. Didn't care much for it.
Rating:
Summary: more like 2 and a half
Review: this has all the Leonard character trademarks. It's Quirky, dangerous, sleazy, funny etc... same with the dialoge,unsual plot and intermittent violence. but it lacks anyone to care anything about. The main character, Dennis, could be someone to relate to but he's just not enough of a presence. And I didn't find myself caring one way or another about the rest. As for plot, you really don't get any kind of handle on what's happening or is going to happen untill around page 180. By then its all so messy you just don't care. I'm not the kind of reader who needs to be led hand in hand from one point to the next, but I just found myself asking too often "what's the point?" Its Leonard allright, just not enough.
Rating:
Summary: I DESERVE A MEDAL FOR FINISHING THIS BOOK
Review: Plain hard work all the way through. What on earth was going on, and why should I care less anyway? It was slow and at times incomprehensible; I got lost with whole passages of the dialogue: it seemed to be written in a foreign language at times. Strangely, I did like the main character Dennis. If this writer is good at anything to do with writing then it must be in creating believable and sympathetic characters. But the story was utter boring rubbish, with a long and tedious build up to a pathetic little shoot out. All the baddies get killed and the goodies (who were baddies too, but not so bad) survived. HOORAY !! But by the end I was hoping they would all get shot. What a waste of time.
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