Highway 61 Resurfaced: A Novel
Some fine characterization helps offset an overly complicated plot in Fitzhugh's second mystery to star veteran disc jockey and rookie PI Rick Shannon (after 2004'sRadio Activity). Now working at a radio station in Vicksburg, Miss. (and more into old blues than rock), Rick also heads Rockin'Vestigations, to which an attractive young woman who calls herself Lollie Woolfolk applies for help in finding her missing grandfather, Tucker Woolfolk, an old-time record producer. When Rick discovers Tucker dead, he has a murder case on his hands. Then Lollie disappears, and another gal claiming to be Lollie Woolfolk turns up. The eccentric, mostly elderly cast includes the members of the blues group BCC (short for Blind, Crippled and Crazy); a pill-crazy killer; a crooked, prejudiced and big-bellied white sheriff; and an innocent black man released from jail after doing 50 years for murder and ready for revenge. Providing comic relief is a sickly alley cat Rick befriends. A search for the old tape of a legendary blues session by BCC generates some suspense, even if its fate remains unclear. Fans ofRadio Activitymay be disappointed that Rick's detective work leaves him so little time behind the mike.Agent, Jimmy Vines. Author tour. (Apr. 12)