Mississippi Vivian (Five Star Mystery) - Hardcover

Anthony-winner Crider's laconic down-home humor suffuses his colorful second collaboration with celebrated Texas PI Clyde Wilson, who died in 2008 (after 2007's Houston Homicide). In the summer of 1970, a possible insurance scam takes Houston PI Ted Stephens to Losgrove, Miss., where he meets Mississippi Vivian, a waitress at the Magnolia Café, the town's nerve center. A corporate client, the National Insurance Company, is skeptical of 12 suspicious claims originating from Losgrove. Ted asks Mississippi for her help, but the possibly self-inflicted shooting death of one of the claimants, Perce Segal, at the house of another claimant, Wade Dickie, complicates his mission. What should be a simple case of insurance fraud becomes increasingly more sticky when Wade turns up dead only a couple of hours after Ted had a fight with Wade. The authors get the Southern atmosphere and period details right in this funny, country-fried mystery. (Apr.)
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In 1970, Losgrove, Mississippi, wouldn’t seem to be a hotbed of crime. It’s a sleepy burg in which the Magnolia Café serves as the community center, and its proprietor, Mississippi Vivian, is the filter for all gossip and news. Ted Stephens, a Houston private eye, is working for National Insurance. The company suspects a worker’s disability scam with a dozen or so citizens—an inordinate number in such a small town—receiving payments. Stephens is a stranger and viewed with suspicion by the citizenry. His only ally is Vivian; she feeds Ted info and meatloaf. Both have a fixed price. Ted suspects a recent death may be related to the scam and thinks a cover-up is in place. Soon enough, Ted’s life is in danger, and another body turns up. Crider, an award-winning master of the small-town whodunit, is at the top of his game here, with the low-key Stephens and the acerbic Vivian providing some classic repartee. Quite enjoyable with a puzzler of a plot and satisfying conclusion. --Wes Lukowsky