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Langston Blue has been living a very quiet life in the backwoods of West Virginia -- until he comes home one day and watches his cabin blow up. He figures out who the culprit is, and heads for Denver. Not because that's where Cortez is but because that's where Carmen Nguyen is. Carmen Nguyen is the daughter Langston never knew he had. Peter Margolin is running a very successful campaign for Senator. His fiance and press secretary Virginia Kearnes is devastated when he is murdered. She is determined to find out who killed him. Carmen Nguyen comes to CJ Floyd, wanting him to find her father because there is some connection between Langston and Margolin. CJ Floyd has some enemies. Most bail bondsmen do. One of the sub-plots in RESURRECTING LANGSTON BLUE revolves around the classic ploy of getting at an enemy by going after the loved ones. Floyd's love is Mavis. Celeste Deepstream blames Floyd for the death of her twin brother, and decides to kill both Mavis and Floyd. She kidnaps Mavis, which does tend to distract Floyd from the Langston Blue case. Luckily, Floyd has some good help. His almost partner, Flora Jean, is an ex-marine with lots of varied experiences which help her. She has a direct connection with an Army general, who is a fountain (well, sometimes) of information on covert activities. Floyd's other connections are some street people, an ex-mobster, and the like. While Floyd is tracking down Celeste and Mavis, the gang works on the Margolin murder and tries to connect it to Langston Blue. The investigation uncovers links between Margolin, Blue, a newspaperman who is (not literally) in bed with Margolin and Kearnes, and at least two Vietnamese men, Mr Le Quan and Mr Jimmy Moc. These connections exist now, and date back to the Vietnam War; some of the connections won't stand up to intense scrutiny. RESURRECTING LANGSTON BLUE is a good mystery, with much to recommend it. The cast of characters is far ranging, with plenty of personalities. The setting is Denver and its environs -- certainly not much ugly about that! The main plot is certainly within the realm of probability, considering all we now know about some of what happened in south east Asia. The growth of the relationship between Mavis and CJ is certainly believable, even without having read any of the other books in the series. And Celeste -- well, there has to be a crazy person in everyone's life, now doesn't there? At least in mystery fiction.
Reviewed by P. J. Coldren, May 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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