Mississippi Blood

Mississippi Blood is the final book of a trilogy by Greg Iles, and I’ve already reviewed the first two ones, Natchez Burning and The Bone Tree. This seventh book in the Penn Cage series and third book of the trilogy was just published this year. I raved about the first two books, and this one was equally captivating. Penn Cage is the former Houston prosecutor who moved to his hometown where he became the mayor of Natchez, Mississippi. I would spoil the main plot and subplots to write much more, so please see my reviews of the first two books. His writing is the best possible combination of historical fiction and crime writing that I’ve seen. His primary theme is racism, the ugliest part of the Southern history. You’ll have to expend some energy, but you’ll derive lots of pleasure and learn a lot as you find out how the Cage family endured more tragedy in the face of hardboiled objection to any change in the racial landscape of Natchez.

The Bone Tree by Greg Iles

The Bone Tree is Greg Iles second book in what promises to be a trilogy that began with Natchez Burning.  Protagonist Penn Cage is a former Houston D.A. turned best-selling author turned mayor of Natchez, MS, his hometown.  His father, Tom Cage is an aging but beloved physician who is accused of euthanizing his former nurse, Viola.  Penn’s motivation to protect his father leads him to uncover sins from Natchez’ past that involve infidelity, child abuse, rape, racism, drug dealing, political corruption and murder.  Penn finds that the evil core that erupted in Natchez in the 1960’s by a white supremacy terrorist group, Double Eagles and the vile Knox family extended far beyond Mississippi.  The Double Eagles were formed from the dregs of the KKK to eliminate John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Robert F. Kennedy and after discovering ties to a mafia don in New Orleans with a connection to Cuba, Penn is shocked at the role the Double Eagles could have played… not to mention, however inadvertently, the role his father played.

But others have ‘skin in the game’ concerning Penn’s father.  Viola had fled Natchez to Chicago many years earlier to avoid the Knox family after they raped and threatened to kill her.  Soon after arriving in Chicago she gave birth to a son, Lincoln.  Recently when Viola is diagnosed with cancer, she returns to Natchez to be under Doc Cage’s care.  Lincoln follows believing the old doctor is his father.  Forrest Knox, son of a Double Eagle founder, is now near the top in command of the Louisiana state police and has used/abused his power to murder poor Blacks escaping New Orleans after the Katrina hurricane and operates a meth distribution system throughout Louisiana.  He was involved with the rape of Viola many years ago and sees her and Tom as a threat to his new found political power.  Caitlin Masters, Penn’s fiancé and ace newspaper reporter in Natchez is all about publishing the truth about the Double Eagles and their more than half century old murderous civil rights crime spree that has yet to be proven or prosecuted. Then there is FBI agent John Kaiser who believes the Knox’s were involved in John F. Kennedy’s assassination.  He thinks Tom Cage through his 1960’s medical treatment of the Knox’s and Carlos Marcello, the New Orleans mafia don, can offer evidence to prove his conspiracy theory.

So we have many characters on both sides with strong motivation to uncover the truth and/or keep it buried.  All have varying and conflicting degrees of righteousness, power, morals, and desperation.  It all leads to a long, complex, spell binding tale that Iles tells masterfully.

Natchez Burning by Greg Iles

If you were in high school or college during the 60’s, if you got wrapped up in the civil rights movement, and if you were shocked by the assassinations of JFK, MLK, and RFK, then this is a book for you. This is the 4^th book in the Penn Cage series by Greg Iles, and this is the best one yet. Cage has moved on from being a prosecuting attorney in Houston and a successful crime novelist, and he has returned to his hometown of Natchez, Mississippi where he has become the mayor. Politics are not his forte, but he really wants to help the town fully integrate and revitalize, goals that many think are mutually exclusive.

On his way to becoming the mayor, Cage made enemies of the black DA Shadrack Johnson and the white Chief of Police Billy Bird, and now a bizarre murder occurs. Cage’s dad is a beloved physician to whites and blacks. His former chief nurse, the beautiful Viola Turner, returned to town after 37 years away. She has metastatic cancer and has come home to die and have Dr. Cage watch after her. But, we learn that her disappearance from Natchez 37 years ago was fraught with intrigue, and her return has stirred up some very old and ugly racial hatreds which touch rich and poor, white and black. With her death from natural causes only a short time away, she is murdered. Did Tom Cage euthanize her or did a radical white supremist shut her up. What about the relationship that Dr. Cage had with her – could they have been lovers and produced an offspring? In order to understand the current day murder of Viola, some old racial murders must be solved.

Iles used his usual cast of Cage, Cage’s dad and mom, his daughter, and his finance, the hard charging newspaper reporter/publisher, Caitlin Masters. It’s not a short read, nearly 800 pages, and I could not put it down. There are lots of characters, but that’s not a deterrent – Iles does a great job with character development and I did not find myself confused about who was who. The ending scene is a dramatic battle that could have gone in any number of directions, but the author brought this to a satisfactory conclusion, which also set up the next story which I’ve already acquired. Greg Iles is the real deal – historical fiction and crime novel rolled into one great story.

If you want to buy this book on Amazon, click here.

Turning Angel by Greg Iles

Using the murder of Kate Townsend as the centerpiece of this story, although there is actually more than one murder that occurs, Greg Iles boldly wades into typically forbidden territory – the sexual attraction between high school girls and older men. Kate was one of those beautiful and talented high school seniors who was headed to Harvard, “the start of the senior class,” but she also had a dark side. She had pursued a sexual encounter with the famous and handsome local doctor, Drew Elliott, who was most unhappy in his marriage. Who was really responsible for the seduction? Iles handles that matter with sensitivity and skill by using his protagonist, Penn Cage, as the counterpoint to Drew. Of course, after Kate’s death and the news of her relationship with Drew and her pregnancy, it is Drew who is accused of the murder. Did he really kill her when he found out about her dark side?

Iles leads us into the drug culture in the South. He takes us through the startlingly different world that faces high school students today. He notes the freedom and information that high school kids now have compared to what was experienced by those of us who are a bit older. Some of us fought for those freedoms and now watch our children struggle to manage them. Iles writes of the dilemma by having a high school student, Mia Burke, who was an integral part of the story, deliver her graduation valedictorian’s speech:

“Don’t get me wrong, I like freedom. But you can have too much of a good thing. At some point you have to draw a line, agree on some rules, or all you have is chaos. Anarchy. So I guess what I’m saying tonight is this: That’s our job, guys. Our class, I mean. And our generation. To figure out where freedom stops being a blessing and starts being a curse. Our parents can’t do it. They don’t even understand the world we live in now. Maybe that job can’t even be done for a society. Maybe it’s an individual decision in every case. But it seems to me that humans given absolute freedom don’t do a very good  job of choosing limits.”

Turning Angel is the third Penn Cage novel by Greg Iles that I’ve read, and I’ve already acquired his next, Natchez Burning. You can see that I’m impressed with these murder mysteries. His character development, plot and subplots are excellent. So far, there are six books in the Penn Cage Series, and Iles has written a number of other books that I’ll probably get to. No doubt, Iles belongs in my power rotation of authors, no matter who he might crowd out of my top ten authors.


Buy Turning Angel: A Novel (A Penn Cage Novel) on Amazon!

The Quiet Game by Greg Iles

The Quiet Game is the first of the Penn Cage novels by Greg Iles, and I’ve already reviewed the third book (The Devil’s Punchbowl) in this six-book series. I thought The Devil’s Punchbowl was good enough that I should start at the beginning, and I was not disappointed. This one was a KNOCK-ME-OUT-OF-MY-SOCKS story. We meet Penn Cage who has made the transition from successful prosecutor to famous crime novel author. As a prosecutor, he had sent 16 men to death row and he had watched seven of them die. But, he’s still recovering from the death of his wife from cancer and he and his daughter both need the TLC of home, so Penn goes returns to his parent’s house in Natchez, Mississippi.

Over the phone, as he was planning his trip home, Penn sensed that something was troubling his father, a successful and beloved physician of both blacks and white in the still racially charged of Natchez. As Penn dives into the events surrounding his father’s troubles, the reader is led back to a racial murder that took place in 1968, and it occurred between the times of the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. The crime was never solved and the black families were sure there was a cover up of the crime. Racism remains a dominant theme in Mississippi live 40 years later. All of the principals of that crime are either still in Natchez or have returned there, and some have gone on to high and powerful political office. Del Payton was the man who was murdered and seemingly forgotten by the white community, but why would J. Edgar Hoover have sealed the files of the case, allegedly as a matter of national security. How is Judge Leo Marston involved in this, the father of Penn’s high school sweetheart, a power broker in Mississippi, and the arch and bitter rival of Penn’s father.

After only two books, I can’t officially move Greg Iles into my power rotation, but I’m guessing he will be placed there as soon as I complete his next novel. That rotation includes Daniel Silva, Michael Connelly, James Lee Burke, Ken Bruen, Lee Child, Louise Penny, Robert Crais, Stephen Hunter, C.J. Box, and Vince Flynn. That list leaves out some other great writers. If I stop at 10 authors, who could possibly get dropped from my list to make room for Iles who probably belongs in the company of those others? I plan to read the second book in the series, Turning Point. In The Quiet Game, the plot is intricate, but not too convoluted. I was kept in suspense until the end. At least in this book, he is one of the best writers of dialogue that I’ve encountered. His character development is as skilled as any author I’ve read, and the courtroom drama is as good as anything that Grisham has written.

The Devil's Punchbowl by Greg Iles

This was my first Greg Iles novel, suggested by friend Kirk Michie, and it’s the first Iles book reviewed in the blog. I chose The Devil’s Punchbowl, his 13^th of 16 novels, published in 2009. The protagonist Penn Cage is an author/lawyer/politician, and the action takes place in Natchez, Mississippi. Penn has become the first term mayor of Natchez with dreams of truly integrating and improving the public educational system, but he has become discouraged because the segregation forces that kept ethnic groups separate are still alive and powerful.

Meanwhile, the town is economically dying, only saved recently by the legalization of gambling in the state. But, not all people are just satisfied with the legal games on the casino floors. More exotic action like secret dog fighting brings big international interest, and the gamblers that want that action also expect to have all of their needs met. Iles reveals the history of dog fighting and it’s current underground ugly status in most places in the world. In Natchez, Penn’s childhood friend, Tim Jessup did not quite have the progressive life that Penn experienced. Although they were both the sons of doctors, attended the best schools, and grew up with privileges, Tim took a rebellious and deviant direction. As he got his life together, he ended up dealing cards at the biggest of the casinos, The Magnolia Queen, which of course is backed by the most questionable of international resources. He discovered that bad schemes were happening, and feeling guilty about the way he had led his earlier life, decide to try to bring the bad guys down, only to lose his life in the process.

The plot is complex, and the story is well written, vivid, engaging, and at times, horrifying. Penn’s ex-love Caitlin Masters has returned unexpectedly, and she becomes a prime part of the story. The book is not short, nearly 600 pages, but that gave the author time to flesh out his characters in detail and for the subplots to coalesce. There were only a few moments when I felt that the story was too long. I’m impressed with Iles and I plan to read more of his works. We should have know about this author before now – so thanks to Kirk for the recommendation.