Reading the South
New Fiction by Regional Authors, March 2006
by Hal Jacobs
for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

If we've learned anything about New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina, it's that people who grow up in the Crescent City cannot easily leave it behind. At one point in Patty Friedmann's fifth novel, Side Effects (Shoemaker & Hoard, $24), the New Orleans-born Ciana wonders why:

Ciana doesn't understand how a city can routinely rank number one in cholesterol levels or stress levels or violent crime levels and yet all of its citizens have unflinching allegiance. She figures it is because no one ever leaves, and if they all have grown up together, they all make certain assumptions. The only reason Ciana lives here is that she loves her mother blindly.

Side Effects is an insider's novel about New Orleans. It's not about vampires or outlandish eccentrics, but rather about the deeply intertwined lives of a few ordinary people from different races and economic classes.

Ciana, Lennon and Vendetta work behind the counter at a chain drugstore in a transitional neighborhood. On the surface, the three seem to have little in common. Ciana, who runs the pharmacy, is white and from an uptown family; she's also seriously overweight, which bothers her uptight brother but no one else. Especially not Lennon, a grad student and slim neat-freak who sets off just about everyone's gay radar -- except Ciana's.

As Ciana and Lennon begin falling in love, their office romance go-between is Vendetta, a young black woman who struggles with alcoholic family members and disheartening educational opportunities for her daughter.

In alternating chapters, Friedmann tells their story (which is also New Orleans' story) about the importance of relationships built on hope, love and warmth --- all virtues that transcend race and class. This is a feel-good novel with a subtle strength. Instead of treating the romantic possibilities as grounds for lowbrow comedy, Friedmann explores the gritty realities with refreshing candor.

* * *

Athol Dickson's River Rising (Bethany House, $17.99) is also set in Louisiana and also deals with racial issues. But instead of delving into character relationships, the Dallas-based Dickson spins a story of suspense and religious allegory in his fourth novel.

As the novel opens, a mysterious stranger paddles into a remote Louisiana town in the late 1920s and makes a strong impression on the locals. Hale Poser is a quiet, unassuming African-American with magical powers. But after watching him in action a few times, the locals can't decide if he's a miracle worker or a con man.

When a newborn baby disappears from the infirmary, Hale throws himself into the desperate search of the surrounding bayous. However, he soon learns this isn't the first baby to disappear.

Over the past 40 years, others have vanished without a trace. And these disturbing events may be connected to his own past --- as a baby, he floated Moses-like into this town in a reed basket.

When Hale stumbles into the truth behind the kidnappings, he begins to question if his faith is strong enough to save himself and others. The result is a Christian-themed action-adventure that, because of Dickson's smooth writing skills, is both earnest and energetic.

* * *

Two Atlanta mystery writers are back with new tales of intrigue featuring their distinctively offbeat serial do-gooders.

In David Fulmer's Rampart Street (Harcourt, $25), Valentin St. Cyr pounds the pavement of the Storyville neighborhood in New Orleans in the early 1900s. In its day, Storyville was one of the world's hot spots for sexual depravity. For the most part, Fulmer (Jass, Chasing the Devil's Tail) spares us the graphic details; he presents more of a Ken Burns version, polishing historical events into nice set pieces.

Fulmer's St. Cyr, the Creole detective, is equally at home in a lice-infested crib or an uptown drawing room. With his laid-back demeanor, he's the Jim Rockford of the Big Easy.

Phillip DePoy sticks closer to home in A Minister's Ghost (St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95), featuring his protagonist Fever Devilin, a hip, ex-college professor who has left the funky streets of Atlanta's Little Five Points to return to his hometown of Blue Mountain, Ga.

Devilin spends his days collecting folklore, but he's not above believing in ghosts or getting involved in the bizarre circumstances around the death of two teenage girls at a railroad crossing.

Both St. Cyr and Devilin are loners at heart who live by their own code -- with loyalty to friends being No. 1 on the list. As their investigations meander toward a final solution, half the fun is going along for the ride and seeing the world through their blues-tinted glasses.

These reviews appeared in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sunday, March 5, 2006.

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