Chasing the Devil's Tail is an historical mystery set in the Storyville era of New Orleans, when prostitution was legal in a specific section of the city and seedy stuff was happening in it. The story revolves around Valentin St. Cyr, a creole detective who can pass as white, thus giving him access to halls of power and dens of inequity. He investigates several murders in brothels, each victim a prostitute connected to his friend, the early jazz (jass) pioneer, Buddy Bolden. It's an atmospheric novel with solid characterization and a decent (but not great) mystery. Some additional thoughts: * The historical research in the novel is really solid, and it shows. The details of the storyville era leap off the page, becoming quite vivid. Fulmer does a great job integrating his fictional people in with the numerous real people the novel characterizes. * The best sequences describe the music of King Bolden and his band. Bolden is credited as one of the originators of jazz, playing his coronet with a frantic style that attracted people from all walks of life. Fulmer brings these scenes to life with a sure hand for detail and the action of the music. * The novel's treatment of the prostitutes works really well. It's frank about the difficult lives they lead and the challenges they encounter, but it doesn't caricature them. This book reminds me of Sin in the Second City, which also seeks to make plain the harsh realities of the prostitute's life without losing sight of their humanity. As one person in my reading group put it, this book reminds us that "whores are people too." * The weakest part of the novel is the mystery. It really serves as a vehicle for the atmosphere and the excellent setting, but it doesn't shine as an example of the genre. That said, I didn't mind at all that the mystery doesn't drive the story very strongly. * My mystery reading group got a chance to do a phone conference with Fulmer after we'd discussed the novel for about an hour. It was interesting to hear how much the history drove the novel (quite a bit) and to hear about his writing and plotting processes. * The vagaries of the publishing industry were interesting as well. He'd originally planned to do a series of novels about the emergence of jazz, following the scene from city to city through the eras. Alas, the publisher was much more interested in seeing additional novels in this setting than in seeing the other settings emerge. The story about the title is pretty funny too -- the publisher wanted a different title than Red Light, which was the original, so Fulmer and his agent came up with this one. And then he worked it into the book to credit Jelly Roll Morton with the phrase. He phrased the epigraph to say "credited to Jelly Roll Morton" because he'd made it up. He later learned that some historians of jazz were tearing their hair out to find the source of that quote. Ha ha.Worth a read, for sure.
This is a historical mystery, a genre that is rapidly becaming on of my favorite, especially when in the hands of a master like David Fulmer. This book grabbed me right away. He presents the flavor and textile that had to be Storyville 1907, and in some ways is what makes the city of New Orleans so fascinating to this day. Parts of the story is in the people, Mr. Fulmer is so right, unless you are on intimate terms with these people you don't know the caste system that worked in this city for so very long. The connection between people of church and people of voodoo and how they cross. The respect of those with "power", whatever that may be. The city itself is there. From Magazine Street to Canal. From the streetcars to the leevee or the French Market. The smells, the sights, the feel of what makes New Orleans a magnet to many people.The history of its people and its music. Tom Anderson, Lulu White, David Henessy and many others are there to make this mystery so very appealing and the story. One that keep me guessing until the author decide it was time for all to be revealed.I highly recommend this book. After reading it I would have to add it to my top ten books of all times.
What do You think about Chasing The Devil's Tail (2003)?
I just picked this one off the library shelf, can't even say why it seemed worth a look. But I enjoyed it. A mystery set in 1897 New Orleans. Creole Valentin St. Cyr works for the King of Storyville, Tim Anderson. "Sporting girls" are being murdered and it looks as though St. Cyr's friend, musician Buddy Bolden is the culprit. St. Cyr doesn't believe it. The New Orleans atmosphere, jazz (jassing), voodoo, the caste system, political machinations lend a lot to the story. This is Fulmer's first novel, and I hope there will be more.
—Roberta
Despite the huge amount of research done to carefully enmesh so much time specific historical detail of not only real people and events but also place into the story, I found the mystery and, more so the detective, to be lacking skill. The basis of the mystery is not unfamiliar, someone is killing prostitutes. But the detective St. Cyr goes about investigating in the damndest ways. He lays around at home thinking. He goes and has sex with his girlfriend. He denies over and over again that the murderer could be his friend King Bolden but never does he take pains to back it with a shred of evidence, or does he ever follow King Bolden, or does he do really anything than wander around at random asking random questions of random people (local color I suppose to add to the book's level of detail). There is no "investigation." He never seems to follow up on a hunch and in the end, waaaay too late, he pulls the solution fully fledged out of nowhere. We, the readers, are never given any clues or any real suspects or any motives that would hint to such a left field kind of conclusion. We are as lost as the detective and not very interested in the endless thankless process. So, give us as much detail in our mystery and in the elaborate historical environment and maybe I'd enjoy reading it.
—Korynn
New Orleans is a city near and dear to my heart, and the music created in the Storyville era is also fascinating to me. Storyville itself has been long since wiped off the map, and most of the music of the era was created well before anyone thought it was worth recording. Histories of Storyville tend to be rather dry if informative. But Fulmer's writing is as evocative of the time and place as any I have ever read. His protagonist is engaging and knowable, all the more so for his imperfections. The real life characters that he weaves into the story are vivid, and their characters comply with what is known about them from the historical record. I loved this book. My only regret is that I read JASS first.
—Ronn
