82 Desire

Praise for 82 DESIRE, the eighth book in the Skip Langdon series by EDGAR AWARD winning author Julie Smith.
    “The reader can’t guess where the author is headed. Each scene comes as an intriguing surprise; it’s like wandering around an endlessly fascinating but unfamiliar city. The ending is agreeably suspenseful.”
    —Los Angeles Times
    “A solid detective yarn with engaging characters and a genuinely baffling mystery … [Smith] succeeds admirably. The novel is intricately constructed, and while Smith keeps nothing important unfairly hidden from her readers, she manages to spring some nice little surprises. Readers who enjoy trying to solve the mystery before the writer reveals the solution will have a great time here. The popularity of the Skip Langdon series stands only to be increased with the appearance of this latest installment.”
    —Booklist
    “The wealth of crimes and misdemeanors gives the case a Dickensian richness.”
    —Kirkus
    “EXCELLENT ENTERTAINMENT…
    82 Desire is fresh and fast paced, gently funny and often touching. In it, Skip Langdon and her creator, Julie Smith, are at their peak … Talba is one of Smith’s best creations ever…. Smith takes risks in this book, and they pay off … [She] excels at writing across cultures, creating believable black and white characters who live side by side in the sometimes strained environment of contemporary New Orleans … The description of the Quarter in the first couple of pages of 82 Desire is one of the most immediate and evocative I remember.”
    —New Orleans Times-Picayune
    “Smith’s strengths are her incredible and sometimes outrageous characters and her snappy dialogue. To read Wallis’s poem on how her mother named her Urethra is worth the price of the book. Obviously, she had her name changed. Very funny stuff.”
    —San Francisco Examiner
    “Another spirited return to the streets of New Orleans.”
    —Library Journal
    “A BRILLIANT NEW ORLEANS WHODUNIT … A WONDERFUL READING EXPERIENCE.”
    —H ARRIET K LAUSNER , B&N
    Skip Langdon “is extremely down to earth despite her polished Uptown upbringing, professional to a fault, and an imposing six-footer to boot … 82 Desire is an accurate reincarnation of the sights, sounds, and smells of Smith’s favorite, semifictional setting.”
    —New Orleans Gambit Weekly
    “One of her best books yet … Sure-footed plotting will keep you guessing as layer after layer of complexity is revealed, but the real star is the Baroness of Pontalba: poet, office temp, computer whiz, and sometime PI who is one of the best characters Smith has created. I ‘m hoping she’ll return.”
    —Mystery Lovers Bookshop Newsletter

The Skip Langdon Series
    (in order of publication)
    NEW ORLEANS MOURNING
    THE AXEMAN’S JAZZ
    JAZZ FUNERAL
    DEATH BEFORE FACEBOOK (formerly NEW ORLEANS BEAT)
    HOUSE OF BLUES
    THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS
    CRESCENT CITY CONNECTION (formerly CRESCENT CITY KILL)
    82 DESIRE
    MEAN WOMAN BLUES

Also by Julie Smith:
    The Rebecca Schwartz Series
    DEATH TURNS A TRICK
    THE SOURDOUGH WARS
    TOURIST TRAP
    DEAD IN THE WATER
    OTHER PEOPLE’S SKELETONS
    The Paul Macdonald Series
    TRUE-LIFE ADVENTURE
    HUCKLEBERRY FIEND
    The Talba Wallis Series
    LOUISIANA HOTSHOT
    LOUISIANA BIGSHOT
    LOUISIANA LAMENT
    P.I. ON A HOT TIN ROOF
    As Well As:
    WRITING YOUR WAY: THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL TRACK
    NEW ORLEANS NOIR (ed.)

82 DESIRE
    A Skip Langdon Mystery
    BY
    JULIE SMITH

booksBnimble Publishing
    New Orleans, La.
    82 Desire
    Copyright 1998 by Julie Smith
    Cover by Nevada Barr
    Originally published by Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
    www.booksbnimble.com
    All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
    First booksBnimble Publishing electronic publication: August 2012
    Digital book(s) (epub and mobi) produced by Booknook.biz .

To Greg Peterson, my mentor and guide in the baffling world of the silicon chip

One
    NEW ORLEANS CHANGES people, even if they only come for a weekend.
    The expected occurs: Teetotalers get sloshed; virgins get laid.
    But the consequences are sometimes lasting and large. The story is told, for instance, about the woman who came to JazzFest and faxed her husband good-bye—a long-running husband, too.
    The city is a