The legend of Voodoo Lucy begins when twenty-eight-year-old Lucinda Jones leaves Tupelo, Mississippi, and her alcoholic, abusive, father behind to start a new life in New Orleans. In the city where jazz bands play until the first light of dawn and no one ever seems to sleep, Lucy falls in love with the eccentric, distinctive characters of the French Quarter, but soon runs afoul of a criminal gang … gang boss and his crew. Lucy herself is no saint—she’s long gotten by through running small-time cons, but when she dreams up a profitable voodoo-laced scam and dares to testify against a killer, Lucy’s life starts to spiral out of control. With friends on both sides of the law and a drug gang who wants her dead, can Lucy scheme her way out of danger and into the life she’s always dreamed of?
Fans of Vito Zuppardo’s “True Blue Detective” series will enjoy this story, which takes readers back to Mario DeLuca’s rookie year on the beat and Zack Nelson in action as a NOLA PD homicide detective, as well as the early days of the infamous Cornerview Gang and the other unsavory characters that prowl the colorful, charming French Quarter. Grab a beignet and a cup of chicory coffee and get your copy now!
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What a story. It is fun, exciting, suspenseful and fast paced. I love the characters, especially Lucy. This book is so realistic it not like reading a book. What fun!!!
A fun afternoon read. Lucy hatches a voodoo doll con to free a New Orleans beauty salon customer of a home wrecker cheating with her husband. Somehow word gets out that Lucy has “special powers” and one con leads to another. I liked the clever cons that were always against bad guys!
This is one fantastic, unputdownable till finished book. I loved it. Lucy walks a fine line alongside law enforcement and the gang leader. Who gives a crap? It’s a novel and a terrific read. I really liked the characters and who doesn’t like to read books that are based in New Orleans? I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Tupelo Gypsy by Vito Zuppardo is Book One in a planned Voodoo Lucy Series. Since this was published in 2018, I can’t complain that there are few books in the series. I look forward to reading more from the author in this series. I was surprised to finish 166 pages so quickly, but the story entertained me so much that the time flew by for this single session read.
Lucinda Jones, also known as Lucy, Lucia, and Voodoo Lucy, lives in New Orleans. A city with a mysterious past filled with hints of superstition and dark magic, New Orleans is not Lucy’s birthplace. She is, in fact, a new arrival. Eight months ago, along with her mother, Wanda, who also has hints of a dark past, the two had moved to New Orleans in search of a fresh start. Perhaps someone is pursuing them from their past lives. She hoped that her father would join her and her mother, but after seeing the look in her father’s eyes as they said their goodbyes, she could not be certain she would see him again. The family had crashed and burned in Tupelo, Mississippi. Evicted from their home, it was time for a do-over. Maybe New Orleans would be more friendly.
The two women had found a small apartment above the Bluff Salon. Free lodging, a small salary, and tips allowed for a comfortable lifestyle. The salon’s owner, Vivian Bluff, had several business activities going in the salon. There were the psychic readings, done exclusively by Vivian in an upstairs room of the salon. Most of the customers were men and there were hints of another type of business that also was conducted by Vivien in the small room above the stairs. Lucy guessed that psychic readings might be illegal in New Orleans. Maybe that was the reason Vivian had to contribute weekly payoffs to Felipe Cruz and his son of the Cornerview Gang. Vivien shrugged off the weekly visits to collect payoffs; it was just a cost of doing business. Felipe visited several edgy businesses weekly. There were never problems from the police.
Lucy was a worker at the salon. She cleaned, swept up around the chairs of hairdressers, served drinks to the customers, and listened to their frequent complaints about their lots in life. She was initially unaware of her own motives for occasionally bagging, tagging and keeping some of the hair clippings she swept up. Lucy was an observer. She knew from observations that there was much to be learned from watching a person’s body language such as facial tics and their reactions to items of overheard conversation. The new knowledge about customers would support their belief in Lucy’s psychic predictions. Lucy also set up an independent business as a street vendor selling Voodoo dolls. She had found a use for the collected customer hair.
Lucy did not believe in Voodoo, but she knew the power of making predictions backed up by a customer belief in some support of a visible token. What follows are several anecdotes or adventures as Lucy devises several very clever schemes that allow salon clients to realize their dreams to escape unpleasant conditions. Lucy helps Gabby with a cheating husband. Gabby believes the doll Lucy provided was the catalyst for changed husband behavior. Lucy lets her believe the power of the doll to be true and Gabby remained ignorant of Lucy’s background machinations.
Not all schemes went smoothly. Looming over everything as a possible spoiler was Picklehead, the ugly, vicious, enforcer for the protection racket of boss Felipe Cruz. Lucy would have to deal with, as in the sense of eliminating, the threat of Picklehead. Lucy initiates a series of clever schemes and eventually improves her position in life to the point where she becomes a trusted leader of her colleagues and a source of help for her boss. Not everything goes well, and this very interesting story progresses as Lucy erases sources of conflict with her planned new life. This five-star Amazon read relates life in the shadows of a world in which the mysticism of Voodoo meets the realities of criminal exploitation.
great fun. I truly enjoyed reading this one. An extra added bonus was having lived on Royal Street as a child. St. Louis Cathedral was our home church. Regardless, the story was well written and I truly enjoyed Lucy. Excellent job great read.
OVERVIEW OF STORY: Lucy and her mother, Wanda left Tupelo, Mississippi for a fresh start in New Orleans, Louisiana. Wanda starts working at a salon that comes with a room upstairs. The salon caters to clientele at all hours of the day for a wide range of needs. Lucy grew up in a world where grifting and cons are a part of life. Her father was a drunk who beat on her mother and spent all their money. She finds out later that the best thing he did for her was die after committing a series of bank robberies. Lucy overhears a rich wife complaining about the affair her husband is having. It turns out that the other woman is also a client of the salon. Lucy takes it upon herself, for a fee, of course, to “curse” the other woman and break up the affair. This starts Lucy down a path that quickly takes her into a high stakes game she’s not sure she can win at. But she is gonna go down swinging.
OPINION OF BOOK: The storyline was instantly captivating. It started out in the middle of the action and made me want to know what was going on. I keep wanting to know what was next. How was Lucy going to get out of this jam and was she going to be able to make things better? Growing up, it seemed like everywhere Lucy looked men were taking advantage women. She knew she didn’t want to be a victim and she would do anything she had to, to protect herself and those around her.
OPINION OF WRITING: All the characters were fabulous. Not that they were all good guys because there were some real slimeballs. The portrayal of the characters brought them to life. They were not described in a way that detracted from the story. They and the world surrounding them unfolded within my mind as the picture in my mind filled out more and more. I recommend this book to anybody who is a fan of action/thriller like books. The writing is eloquent that the story not only flows, but it also seeps out, spreads and fills. Like iridescent ribbons from an oil spill, before you know it you can see it everywhere. I have deep family roots in New Orleans, although I’ve never been myself. This spoke to those deep swampy, muddy river, blues and Bourbon Street parts of my soul.