Jass: A Valentin St. Cyr Mystery

by: David Fulmer

Published by: Harvest Book/Harcourt

Reviewed by Kathy Perschmann, Chanhassen (MN) Librarian

David Fulmer won the Shamus award for the first book in the St. Cyr series, Chasing the Devil's Tail. Rampart Street, the third in the series was released January 2006.

Set in the Storyville (red light) district of New Orleans in the 1900s, in the early days of jazz, Jass re-creates that fabled time like old photographs coming to life. The street names--Marais, Villere, Iberville, Bienville, Bourbon, Basin, Chartres.... the language and dialects alone evoke a New Orleans more real in the memories than in actuality.

The characters include historical people like musician Jelly Roll Morton and cafee and bar owner Tom Anderson. Anderson has hired Valentin St. Cyr, a Creole ex-policeman, and set him up in an apartment. St. Cyr is a bouncer in his establishment, and also watches over some of the bordellos.

Anderson is called the "King of Storyville," as he seems to control a great deal of the district. At the start of the story, Jelly Roll calls St. Cyr in to tell him of several suspicious deaths of jass musicians. Eventually three die (an overdose, a stabbing, and a poisoning) before St. Cyr gets involved. Then another who has given up music is drowned. It turns out they had all played in the Union Hall Band.

St. Cyr is distracted by girlfriend Justine's boredom, continuing headaches, and her eventual defection back to the "sporting" life (she becomes the mistress of a wealthy man). Pressure is put on St. Cyr to stop investigating by his boss Anderson, who has the perfect control: he can reveal some damming information about Justine.

St. Cyr's long-time adversary on the police, Lt. Picot, is back and seems to know more than he should about these murders. The landlady of the stabbed musician is killed, as is Dominique, the young girlfriend of one, who had come to St. Cyr for safety. He is first thrown in to a dark depression (he finds Dominique's body), but soon is energized by his cold rage, and uncovers the sordid truth.

For more information on the development of jazz, check out A New History of Jazz by Alyn Shipton Continuum 2001.

Armchair Interviews says: Fulmer's excellent research has contributed to the steamy atmosphere of this great noir mystery.