Memphis Ribs

Rating:
Summary: Memphis Mystery...where's the editor?
Review: Gerald Duff does an interesting job mixing comedy and violent crime--no easy task. Memphis cop J.W. Ragsdale is a well developed character, who goes about solving the murder of a tourist during the International BBQ Cooking Contest and the Cotton Carnival. Duff's Southern dialects and colloquialisms are a little in the stereotypical vein, which is surprising from a former Memphis college prof. The story lines are tied up cleanly at the end, but left this reader wondering what purpose this excercise served. The framework for a great story is in place, and a good revision could have gotten this tale on track.

Rating:
Summary: A Rib Tickler.
Review: Gerald Duff's Memphis Ribs is a funny book. Its best quality lies in the dialogue engaged by its main character, Memphis police detective J.W. Ragsdale. I'm from Minnesota, where the best we can come up with is "yah" and "you betcha," so I can't say how accurate the dialect is. But it was enjoyable reading. The comebacks and phrasing were hilarious. Ragsdale is an immediately likable protagonist. Duff's ability to write dialogue reminds me of Robert B. Parker.

The story develops nicely too: drugs and murder all set against the backdrop of Memphis and Ragsdale's passion for barbecued pork ribs. I was surprised by how much there is to learn about barbecuing pork. Up here we just throw a couple of beer-soaked brats on the grill and take 'em off when they split. Duff teaches us that the subtleties in cooking methodology and geographical origin of barbecued pork are as varied and consequential as in the world of fine wines.

Though the ending left me a bit confused, Memphis Ribs is overall a good effort.

Rating:
Summary: Memphian with an open mind
Review: Take a break people. This book is a great read and very entertaining. For the fact checker who detailed the 10 wrong things, really now. It's fiction!!! In fiction you change things in your story sometimes just a tiny bit. As someone who also went to Rhodes I would think that you would have learned the difference. (By the way my brother went to MUS and I have been known to refer to it as Memphis University School)

I highly recommend this book if you want a good laugh/ mystery. It is even funnier if you have any exposure to the cotton carnival element of Memphis.

Rating:
Summary: Memphian with an open mind
Review: Take a break people. This book is a great read and very entertaining. For the fact checker who detailed the 10 wrong things, really now. It's fiction!!! In fiction you change things in your story sometimes just a tiny bit. As someone who also went to Rhodes I would think that you would have learned the difference. (By the way my brother went to MUS and I have been known to refer to it as Memphis University School)

I highly recommend this book if you want a good laugh/ mystery. It is even funnier if you have any exposure to the cotton carnival element of Memphis.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good book-- a lot of fun to read
Review: This book is very entertaining and fun to read. It has a fast moving story and likeable characters. It is a good detective thriller set in Delta blues country. The hero, J W Ragsdale, is a great, hard bitten detective character. I'd like to see another book with him as the leading character. A friend bought this book for me and I wasn't sure what I was in for....I loved it.Duff did a great job.