Glory Broussard #2
This series, featuring an absolute genius creation of a main character is a delightful breath of fresh air. Glory Broussard, of LaFayette, Louisiana, is a divorcee of a certain age who suffers from arthritis, loves the Commodores (and really, who doesn’t?), and works part time as a bookie in her favorite coffee shop on Sunday afternoons.
She’s shocked when her ex’s new wife, Valerie, shows up at her “place of business” on a Sunday and asks her to track down Sterling, her former husband. Even though she’s had as little to do with her successor as possible, she finds herself agreeing.
Unfortunately, when she finds him, he’s in the kitchen of a rented duplex with a knife through his heart. Naturally, there’s lots of fallout. Glory and Sterling’s heartbroken daughter, Delphine, rushes home for the funeral, and Valerie insists that since Glory’s had such sleuthing success finding their missing man, she should discover who killed him as well. A reluctant heroine, part of Glory’s charm is her terrible attitude – she’s pretty rude to Valerie who seems to be a decent person, and she finds the fact that Valerie and Delphine get along well to be a major irritant. However, despite her qualms, she, Delphine and Valerie manage to form a team to uncover what happened.
Their sleuthing eventually takes them to the stable and a casino where Sterling was working when he died. Lots of things seem off there and there’s a fantastic moment where Glory dresses up to go “undercover” at the Casino (she’s very good at Blackjack) to see what she can winkle out. Unfortunately, she gets drunk and makes a spectacle of herself at a Commodores concert. The whole scene is expertly written, funny, and sad at the same time.
These books are essentially private eye novels, and despite the fact that Glory is an extremely unlikely one, she still gets results. Though unpaid, she does what every private eye in history has ever done: drive around and ask questions. Her car may be a Honda CRV and she may be a member of the Red Hat society, but she’s still a private eye.
Glory is also dealing with the fact that she’s taken on the Red Hat Mardi Gras celebration and is woefully behind in the prep, to the point where she’s missed ordering the crucial king cake. Luckily, another nemesis, Constance, steps in to help and between the two of them manage to make it work.
Adding some extra oomph to the plot is Delphine’s chef girlfriend, Justice, who arrives from New York to offer condolences and steps in when a king cake is needed. Glory, along with solving the crime, mends some bridges along the way and maybe even learns not to hold on to some resentments so tightly. However, you have to hope she doesn’t completely mellow out, because it’s those thorny warring instincts that make her character absolute reading gold.
The author does not condescend to this character, and obviously loves her, her faults and foibles making her a compelling, if not always completely loveable human. An utterly classic character, Glory feels so real that if she were to walk into your coffee shop or church you’d recognize her immediately. Arceneaux is also a great storyteller, so these books are a win in every way for the lucky reader. — Robin Agnew