Wages of Sin, Penelope Williamson

“Wages of Sin” by Penelope Williamson (2004, 496 pages) is a mystery featuring Detective Daman Rourke and set during the late 1920’s New Orleans. “Mortal Sins” (2003, 496 pages) is the first book in this two book series that introduced Daman Rourke aka Day and his sexy, movie star girlfriend, Remy Lelourie.

New Orleans comes vividly to life thanks to the author’s careful and meticulous attention to the culture, politics and atmosphere of the city. “Wages of Sin” is a tale about obsession and scandal. The author drops enough bombshells to keep you hooked into the story while giving you a quick tour of the city.

There are several threads going on in the story and all are engaging. The first subplot deals with an obsessed fan who dubs himself Romeo and who’s stalking the popular Hollywood actress, Remy LeLourie. He’s creepy because we are privy to his thoughts first hand which are clearly provoked just by LeLourie’s beauty and mere existence.

Secondly, there’s the death of a priest whose body is found crucified on a crossbeam in the macaroni factory. Day gets pulled from his girlfriends party to attend the crime scene. The murder took place in an area hobos refuse to visit. The victim, Father Patrick Walsh, was well liked by his congregation that is until the vestry is given a closer look. Father Walsh was harboring an explosive secret and was a polarizing figure with his political views. His death exposes possible corruption within the church and exposing some eye-brow raising secrets that promises to shake the community.

Then there’s the mystery of who is targeting the girls who are apart of the fan club called The Fantastics. Is this thread connected to the psycho who is stalking LeLourie? If so, it doesn’t bode well since the missing girls all turn up raped and murdered with one still missing. Moving on, Williamson really dug her heels in with highlighting the racism that is rampant during this time period. A young black man dating a young white girl gets him convicted and sentenced to the electric chair for a crime he didn’t commit. I didn’t much care for the outcome of that case, realistic or not.

Williamson, I think, never finished this series. The reason why I say that is because of the climax of the story. It’s a cliffhanger and I don’t know how to feel. In one way it’s good in that you’re shocked and surprised by the outcome but bad in that we’ll never get to figure it out. You see, the villain in this story might be someone we know but I know I never figured it out. Will you? If you do, I’d love to hear from you about it.

Yes, there’s a romance but the relationship and all it’s angst and conflicts started in “Mortal Sins.” In here, Roarke and Remy are already in a committed relationship. No worries though as the sex is still hot and steamy. The conflict between Roarke and Remy is external. It centers around Remy’s Hollywood career. She’s famous and her career is taking off and neither seem willing to sacrifice their career for the other. Remy’s star is shinning bright but will she choose her promising film career over her lover?

Speaking of the love of her life, Daman Roarke who goes mostly by Day, is my kind of tortured hero. He’s a widow with a young daughter. Day is so angsty and reserved. I was drawn to him immediately. To let loose some steam, he can sometimes be found at the speakeasy playing the sax. He loves three things in his life: his daughter, his job and Remy.

“Wages of Sin” is a solidly written mystery with romantic elements. The setting is well done but the pacing is somewhat slow. Some authors just set their story in a city but in here, you know that you are in New Orleans. There’s a lot of conflicts, romantic entanglements, family entanglements & other complexities dealing with racism, politics, etc. The story is at turns quite dark and graphically violent. The ending is a surprise. One I didn’t see coming and will leave readers unfulfilled. Still, I wouldn’t avoid reading this book just because it ends on a slight cliffhanger. For those interested, “Mortal Sins” and “Wages of Sin” is available in digital format but at ridiculous prices. My grade: B+.

Note: This is rewritten review from my other blog. Update: edited spelling