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Talba Wallis is a person of striking dualities. On the one hand, she's a well-respected voice of the African-American woman who shares her life's experiences through her poetry. On the other, she's a novice private investigator who is working for an older Italian man by the name of Eddie Valentino. Although she's beginning to learn about her trade, she's woefully inexperienced at what she's doing. Hired because of her excellent computer skills, she finds the actual job of investigating to be alternately boring, exciting and confusing. Even though Eddie grouses constantly about her shortcomings, he has served as a mentor and a person that Talba can count on through thick and thin. Upon injuring herself during a tail (by not paying attention and smashing into another car), Talba decides to assuage her aches and pains by getting a massage from a friend of hers by the name of Babalu Maya. Babalu is the poster woman for natural living, and when she is found dead of a heroin overdose shortly thereafter, both Talba and Babalu's fiance, Jason Wheelock, believe that Babalu may have been murdered. Feeling somewhat guilty because he had broken Babalu's trust, Jason hires Talba to investigate the circumstances of her death. Talba quickly finds out that "Babalu" is really "Clayton Patterson". The investigation is difficult because Clayton's old home is a predominantly white community whose inhabitants view Talba as a threat. However, Talba does find out that there was a shocking incident in Clayton's past. When she was a teenager, she was scalped, supposedly by a jealous boyfriend. When Talba uncovers the truth of the incident, she finds herself in danger. At the same time, Talba has discovered that there is a mystery in her own past. It appears that her father sired another child and that Talba has a sister who she has never met. Reaching back through the years, she is able to find this person. She also finds that she has to adjust her expectations to fit the reality of who this person is if they are going to build a bond. She's adjusting in other ways too, as her despised Buppie sister-in-law, Michelle, gives birth to a little girl who steals Talba's heart. When Michelle almost dies, Talba finds she needs to adjust her outlook as far as she is concerned too. I felt that the racial message in the book was a bit heavyhanded. If Talba is going to succeed as a PI, she's going to need to move in both the black and white worlds. It felt in this book as if most white people were her enemies and only black people could help her solve the crime, with the exception of Eddie. My favorite part of the book is the interaction between Talba and Eddie. He gets mightily annoyed with her, but you know that there's a lot of affection behind the gruff exterior. I feel that the first book in this series, Louisiana Hotshot is a better book. I very much like the character of Talba. As a PI, she is inexperienced and not necessarily very good at her job which is in direct contrast that with the assured, confident Baroness of Pontalba, the poet. I feel that Smith made a mistake in focusing almost exclusively on Talba, the PI, a fairly stock character in a lot of ways, and not giving more page time to the unique aspect of Talba, the Baroness and poet. Unfortunately, Bigshot did not knock my socks off as I had hoped it would.
Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, August 2002
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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