Review: Midnight on the Mississippi by Mary Ellis

When Hunter Galen's best friend and business partner, James Nowak, is murdered, all the evidence points to him as the one behind it. Newly licensed private investigator Nicolette Price convinces Galen to allow her to work on the case and soon finds herself a target herself. Digging through the evidence, someone definitely thinks the two are getting to close to the truth.

Who could it be? One of the investment clients who was scammed by Nowak? Galen's fiancee, who said Nowak knew some things about her past? The New Orleans Police Department detective who clearly has an agenda of his own and is willing to use any tactic he can to pin the crime on Galen? Someone else?

Midnight on the Mississippi is the first of author Mary Ellis's novels I've read and it is a great start to her "Secrets of the South" series. As a reader I found myself immediately immersed in the story, eagerly following the clues and trying to figure out who did what to whom and when. Galen and Price are well-developed as characters. Both have some character flaws that keep them from being perfect. Their family ties remind the readers that there is always someone who remembers you when and still loves you regardless of the baggage you carry. In other words, they felt like real people.

However, as someone who has done editing in the past I found myself totally annoyed in one aspect of Ellis's otherwise excellent story, and it involves the passage of time.

Usually, an author will use transitions to note the passing of time. "After about a week, the results of the . . . " -- or something like that -- is used to let the reader know how much time has passed since the last scene. I'm not sure if it was a deliberate choice to avoid clear time transitions, but I found it awkward as a reader to finish a chapter with a cliffhanger and start the next one with "Now that I had . . ."

When did your character get it? That morning? After waiting days, weeks, months, or years? The answer is usually found somewhere in the next page or two, but as I read the book I found myself thinking all the action was crammed into days when I knew logically it had to take place over weeks (which it did). As in writing for newspapers, it is important to answer the major questions -- Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How? -- clearly.

Still, there is much to like about Midnight on the Mississippi, and I highly recommend it and look forward to the second book in the series, What Happened on Beale Street, which will be published soon.

Rating: 4 Stars