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“I’m sure you will. You seemed quite competent to me.”

“Thanks. I’ve got some charges going on with Internal Affairs. You don’t handle that kind of stuff, do you?”

Ah, the opening he had hoped for.

“I handle just about everything, Officer Smith,” he said with conviction. “Would you like to talk about it?”

“I don’t know.” She sounded weary, as if resigned to an unfavorable outcome in life. “It’s probably nothing you would be interested in. It has to do with my sex…”

“Tell you what,” Tubby interrupted. “I have a very proficient assistant named Cherrylynn Resilio. How about if I put her on. I’ll hop off. But if she thinks you’ve got a case I’ll take a look at it. If she green-lights it, I’m very sure we can help.”

“Okay, I’m not doing much of anything else right now.”

Tubby put her on “HOLD.”

“Cherrylynn,” he yelled. “Pick up!”

Given a chance to work its wonders, the law would bring justice to the realm.

* * *

Four men wearing vests identifying them as Entergy electricians entered the Tulane University Library through the service entrance. The men weren’t locals, but they had acquired a plan of the building and were quickly able to disable the alarm system. They knew that the campus police were elsewhere, responding to a call regarding rowdy students carousing outside The Boot. At this late hour, the campus was dark and deserted.

Within two minutes they had reached the main floor and located the office of the special collections director. The plastic bins were locked within, as expected, but the lock was quickly overcome. Within five minutes, the men had the bins downstairs, out the back door, and stowed in their waiting van. They pulled cautiously onto Freret Street and drove away with their secret cargo into the peaceful New Orleans night.

THE END

Dedication

To Nancy, eternally mysterious

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First click here to join our mailing list and get Louisiana Hotshot!

Confirmed grump Eddie Valentino placed the ad. Hotshot twenty-something Talba Wallis knew exactly how to answer it.

And thus was born the dynamic duo of New Orleans private detectives, one cynical, sixty-five-year-old Luddite white dude with street smarts, and one young, bright-eyed, Twenty-First century African-American female poet, performance artist, mistress of disguise, and computer jock extraordinaire. Think Queen Latifah and Danny DeVito in a hilariously rocky relationship— yet with enough detective chops between them to find Atlantis.

5.0 out of 5 stars Julie Smith’s Triumphant Return

Long time fans of Julie Smith's witty mysteries will not be disappointed by this new title. Spinning off a character from her latest Skip Langdon mystery “82 Desire”, Talba Wallis, this book definitely ranks up there with Smith's Edgar Award winning “New Orleans Mourning.”

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We’ll give you your money back if you find as many as five errors. (That’s five verified errors— punctuation or spelling that leaves no room for judgment calls or alternatives.) If you find more than five, we’ll give you a dollar for every one you catch up to twenty. More than that and we reproof and remake the book. Email mittie.bbn@gmail.com and it shall be done!

Want to start at the beginning?

The first Tubby Dubonnet mystery is CROOKED MAN.

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What they said about CROOKED MAN:

“The wacky but gentle sensibilities of Tubby Dubonnet reflect the crazed, kind heart of New Orleans better than any other mystery series.”

The New Orleans Times-Picayune

“Sharp and jolly … There’s a lot here to enjoy— especially some great moments in local cuisine and a wonderfully jaundiced insider’s view of a reluctant lawyer in action.”

Chicago Tribune

“Take one cup of Raymond Chandler, one cup of Tennessee Williams, add a quart of salty humor, and you will get something resembling Dunbar’s crazy mixture of crime and offbeat comedy.”

Baltimore Sun

Also by Tony Dunbar:

The Tubby Dubonnet Series (in order of publication)

CROOKED MAN

CITY OF BEADS

TRICK QUESTION

SHELTER FROM THE STORM

CRIME CZAR

LUCKY MAN

TUBBY MEETS KATRINA

NIGHT WATCHMAN

Other Works by Tony Dunbar

American Crisis, Southern Solutions: From Where We Stand, Promise and Peril

Where We Stand: Voices of Southern Dissent

Delta Time

Our Land Too

Against the Grain: Southern Radicals and Prophets, 1929-1959

Hard Traveling: Migrant Farm Workers in America

A Respectful Request

We hope you enjoyed Night Watchman and wonder if you'd consider reviewing it on Goodreads, Amazon ( http://amzn.to/19zsqt2 ), or wherever you purchased it. The author would be most grateful.

About the Author

TONY DUNBAR is a lawyer who lives in New Orleans, the mirthful and menacing city in which the Tubby Dubonnet mystery series is set. In addition to the mysteries, which have been nominated for the Anthony Boucher and the Edgar Allan Poe awards, he is also the Lillian Smith Book Award-winning author of books about the South, civil rights and protest. He has an abiding interest in the Battle of New Orleans and other grand dramas in the city’s colorful history and imaginative culture.

Full Table of Contents

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

Chapter VII

Chapter VIII

Chapter IX

Chapter X

Chapter XI

Chapter XII

Chapter XIII

Chapter XIV

Chapter XV

Chapter XVI

Chapter XVII

Chapter XVIII

Chapter XIX

Chapter XX

Chapter XXI

Chapter XXII

Chapter XXIII

Chapter XXIV

Chapter XXV

Chapter XXVI

Chapter XXVII

Chapter XXVIII

Chapter XXIX

Chapter XXX

Chapter XXXI

Dedication

How About A Free Book?

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Also by Tony Dunbar

A Respectful Request

About the Author