Mean Woman Blues

bastard. But now he’s probably going to get some sort of commendation. Whatever that’s worth.”
    “Ah. And you’re vindicated. Things are shaping up.”
    “I’ll drink to that.” Skip smiled and raised her glass.
    Things were good tonight. At the moment, she could hardly remember Dallas.
    THE END

 
    To the best and truest of friends, Mary Ann and Larry Walker

Acknowledgments
    Many thanks to the regulars: retired NOPD Captain Linda Buczek, Kathy Perry, Greg Herren, Betsy Petersen, Dr. Ken White, Charlotte Sheedy, Vicky Bijur, Win Blevins, and, of course, my incomparable husband, Lee Pryor. Can’t do a book without ’em.
    Also, thanks to Dr. Mark Cousins, Kit Wohl, retired District Fire Chief Dave Tibbetts, Kathy Fontenot at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, Kathy White, Kiley McGuire (my Dallas expert), Lynn Kuriger Stanton (on Texas divorce law), and Ace Atkins (for title consultation). Any mistakes are my own and not theirs, bless their hearts— they did their best to make it simple.
    The ugly affair of the bank is based on a real incident. A thousand thanks (and all my sympathy) to the person who shared details of the ordeal.

WE GUARANTEE OUR BOOKS…
AND WE LISTEN TO OUR READERS
    We’ll give you your money back if you find as many as five errors. (That’s five
verified
errors— punctuation or spelling that leaves no room for judgment calls or alternatives.)
    If you find more than five, we’ll give you a dollar for every one you catch up to twenty.
    More than that and we reproof and remake the book.
    Email [email protected] and it shall be done!

The Skip Langdon Series
(in order of publication)
    NEW ORLEANS MOURNING
    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 Mcdonald 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.)

About the Author
    JULIE SMITH is a New Orleans writer and former reporter for the San Francisco
Chronicle
and the New Orleans
Times-Picayune
.
New Orleans Mourning
, her first novel featuring Detective Skip Langdon, won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel, and she has since published eight more highly acclaimed books in the series, plus spun off a second New Orleans series featuring PI and poet Talba Wallis.
    She is also the author of the Rebecca Schwartz series and the Paul McDonald series, plus the YA novels CURSEBUSTERS! and EXPOSED. In addition to her novels, she’s written numerous essays and short stories and is the editor of NEW ORLEANS NOIR.