Vintage Elmore Leonard - a searing tale of gambling, gangsters, hidden agendas and a whole heap of trouble from the virtuoso of American crime fiction. Daredevil Dennis Lenahan has brought his act to the Tishomingo Lodge & Casino in Tunica, Mississippi - diving off an eighty-foot ladder into nine feet of water for the amusement of gamblers, gangsters, and luscious belles. His riskiest feat, however, was witnessing a Dixie-style mob execution while atop his diving platform. Robert Taylor saw the hit also. A blues-loving ...
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Vintage Elmore Leonard - a searing tale of gambling, gangsters, hidden agendas and a whole heap of trouble from the virtuoso of American crime fiction. Daredevil Dennis Lenahan has brought his act to the Tishomingo Lodge & Casino in Tunica, Mississippi - diving off an eighty-foot ladder into nine feet of water for the amusement of gamblers, gangsters, and luscious belles. His riskiest feat, however, was witnessing a Dixie-style mob execution while atop his diving platform. Robert Taylor saw the hit also. A blues-loving Detroit hustler touring the Southland, Taylor's got his own secret agenda and he wants Dennis in on the game. And high-diver Dennis could be about to take a long, fatal fall - right into a mess of hoop skirts, Civil War play-acting... and more trouble than he ever dreamed possible.
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Add this copy of Tishomingo Blues to cart. $0.99, good condition, Sold by ZBK Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Woodland Park, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 2002 by Mariner Books.
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The Battle of Brices Cross Roads was fought on June 10, 1864, near Baldwin in Northeast Mississippi. The fabled Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest won a sweeping victory over Union forces led by Union Brigadier General Samuel Sturgis. Today Brices Cross Roads is a National Battlefield Site administered by the National Park Service. Although the Confederates won the battle, the result was to prevent Forrest and his troops from threatening Union German William T. Sherman on his march to Atlanta.
The Battle of Brices Cross Roads and much else in American history forms the background for Elmore Leonard's 2002 novel, "Tishomingo Blues". Set in Tunica, Mississippi, south of the 1864 battlefield, the novel centers around a reenactment of the 1864 battle which becomes taken over by warring drug gangs. The book describes in great detail the passion many Americans feel for Civil War reenactments. (Leonard and his assistant did their research.) The book also captures a great deal of the tawdry feeling of Tunica with its casinos, brothels, drugs, and carnival-like atmosphere.
The novel includes a large cast of characters that are difficult to keep straight. Some of this difficulty may be an integral part of the story as it captures the confusion and chaos of a Civil War battle. Most of the characters are Mississippians, but a number hail from Detroit. the setting of many of Leonard's books. Important characters include a range of demographics, including African Americans and Latinos. Most of the characters are Southerners or Mississippians with a number of important figures from Detroit, probably the best-known setting for Leonard's novels. The book includes important and well-described women characters as well as men.
The main character of the book, Dennis Lenahan, is a high-diver down on his luck and on his long-term means of support. He gets a job diving as a casino attraction when, on top of an 80-foot diving board, he witnesses a brutal murder. Two other characters in the book are Charlie Hoke, a talkative washed-up former professional baseball player who befriends Dennis, and Robert Taylor, and African American from Detroit who also approaches Dennis and whose character and motivations are at first difficult to fathom. The book becomes a character study and a morality play as Dennis is faced with choices as his fate becomes entwined with the competing drug gangs participating in the Brices Cross Roads reenactment. The legend of blues singer Robert Johnson who allegedly sold his soul to the devil at a Mississippi crossroads near Tunica in exchange for his uncanny musical ability becomes a symbol for the decisions Dennis Lenahan must make in this novel.
The book is somewhat lengthy but moves quickly with Leonard's descriptive power and ear for sharp, colloquial dialogue. I found some of the most interesting parts of the book involved Leonard's depictions of a variety of American life, both North and South, particularly his descriptions of the blues and of a variety of low, desperate lives, including casino workers, the diver, cheap prostitutes, violent criminals and others trying to get by. Leonard also captures the continued American fascination with the Civil War.
The details of the tangled story sometimes are difficult to follow but the book has a sweep in its characterizations and themes. The book has more to offer in its portrayal of the difficulty of moral choice, in its portrayal of aspects of America, and in its treatment of living in the past through Civil War reenactments and other means, than a simple crime thriller. Leonard referred to this book as his favorite among his many novels. The Library of America has published four volumes of Leonard's prolific writings. "Tishomingo Blues" is included in the final volume, in terms of the chronology of the writings, titled "Four Later Novels".
Robin Friedman
gudone2
Feb 2, 2012
Another Leonard Goodie
Fast paced, great characters, typical Leonard dialogue. Never a dull moment with this book.
