Mississippi Mud by Edward Humes

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Feb 9, 2000

An acquaintance of mine who testified on the blood spatter evidence in a case recommended a book written about the crime. It's called Mississippi Mud and it's a good one.

The setting is Biloxi, Mississippi in 1987. I've never been there but the author draws a convincing portrait of an Old South town with all of the political intrigue you could want. The town has the beauty one expects of Mississippi with the lazy mansions and sultry weather. It also has a dark underbelly. There's (loosely) organized crime without the family structure. It's called the Dixie Mafia and Humes takes you into the workings and doings of that particular group. Some of the police department is incompetent; some is deep in the Mafia's pocket, as are many of the political figures of the town.

The main story is of a judge and his mayor-candidate wife, murdered in their home. A badly botched investigation leads their daughter, Lynne Sposito, to such intense frustration that she takes things into her own hands and works closely with a private eye to find out what happened. This is her story.

There's a lonely-hearts scam run from inside prison walls, a one-legged hit man, a suspicious law partner, a conspiracy, corruption galore, and a series of bizarre twists and turns that make this a pretty compelling read.

The back of the book says, "soon to be a major motion picture." (There was a made-for-TV mini-series awhile back, as well.) Read the book first. There's stuff in here they can't get into a movie.

And I must confess that after reading this, I'd never want to live in Biloxi!

City of Biloxi http://www.biloxi.ms.us/