Juicy Watusi

Richard Helms. Barbadoes Hall Press/Back Alley Books, $15.95 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-9710159-1-3

The seminary-trained Irish jazz musician-cum-profiler Pat Gallegher steps out of retirement to smartly solve his third mystery in forensic psychologist Richard Helms's tale of serial murder in New Orleans' steamy French Quarter, Juicy Watusi (after Voodoo That You Do). The plot is solid, traditional, hard-boiled fare Gallegher's on the trail of a killer targeting strippers and even better is the middle-aged investigator's snappy observations about the Quarter's characters (boss Shorty ""looks like he washes his face with a weedwhacker""; tough guy Reynard's hands looked like ""Italian sausages attached to birthday balloons"").

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