DOING THE DEVIL'S WORK
Fiction Like having a cuppa with Conan DOING THE DEVIL'S WORK By Bill Loehfelm 308 pp. Picador Reviewed by Alan Goodman A nicely done who-done-it in the long tradition of who-done-its. The author, Bill Loehfelm, brings to New Orleans what Walter Mosley and Michael Connelly bring to Los Angeles and Arthur Conan Doyle brings to London. I don't sense the writing here has quite the bite, the tang of these more well-known mystery writers. But it certainly keeps the reader turning pages. This book was my introduction to the lead character, Maureen Coughlin, who apparently made her first appearances in at least two previous mystery books by Mr. Loehfelm – The Devil In Her Way and The Devil She Knows . One might better begin with the earlier works, as I felt at a disadvantage jumping into the life of Officer Coughlin somewhere in the middle of her third adventure, where her backstory was essential to the tale, but yet seemed a bit too veiled. Officer Coughlin is a rookie officer on...