Midnight on the Mississippi

2.5 stars
A light read about heavy subjects. I tend to like my mysteries to be strong on the mystery, and this one kept getting sidetracked by romance (biceps! Muscles!) and tourism (French Quarter! Plantation homes!). There were some pretty fabulous descriptions of food, too!

While not exactly a secular novel, it has no big emphasis on faith. The biggest thing is that Nicki's beliefs have kept her from making some bad choices, but it doesn't seem to be a Christian novel aside from that. Hunter is Catholic and they at one point go into his church to light a candle, and attend for a funeral. I don't think someone who isn't a believer would have any problem reading this book. While it comes from a faith-based publisher, the library classification is simply for mystery with no mention of Christian.

Anyway, while the tale stays clean in the sense of not showing explicit description, the subjects are very heavy: an investigator who loves innuendo, a fiancée who is double-dealing with another man on the side (not even sleeping with her fiancé, but sleeping with his friend??), a business partner who gambles and cheats on money, and VERY heavy drinking. Lots of drinking (if you are in AA do not read this book.)

The mystery did keep me engaged, and I kept hoping my initial guess was wrong and I'd be thrown a curveball, because there were plenty of red herrings...and nope. I pretty much guessed the whole thing from the first few chapters. (You might be surprised, though, because I do read a boatload of mystery every year and have seen a lot of plot twists.)

I may pick up other books from the series when I need a lighter read to pass the time, but it won't be high on my list.

*Content: drinking, mentions of drunkenness, mentions of affairs, repeated sexual innuendo, French cursing, etc