Book Review: ‘The Dirty South’ Is The Next Thrilling Charlie Parker Novel From John Connolly

This is book number 18 in the Charlie Parker series. And the second one I have now read in the series. Following last year’s awesome A Book Of Bones (my introduction to the series), The Dirty South goes back to the beginning of Charlie Parker.

The year is 1997 and Charlie has lost his wife and daughter to a viscous killer. He ends up leaving his Detective job with the NYPD to go after and find the man responsible for the loss of his family. He ends up in Cargill, in Burden County, in Arkansas. The town has been dying for years but Bill Clinton is in the White House and the state is making a comeback. The wealthy and powerful Cade family is trying to get a major business to move in, which would revitalize the area.

But there have been two murders over the years never solved. And the town doesn’t like outsiders, especially when they are asking about old murders. The Police Chief Griffin has a talk with Charlie and ends up throwing him in jail. Once he finds out who Charlie is and what has happened to him, he asks for his help. Especially since there was another murder while Charlie was in jail.

Charlie at first refuses but then decides to help. This doesn’t sit well with the town people or the Cade family. Juell Cade is the chief investigator for the county and has pretty much buried the two previous murders. But not this time. It’s a small town with a few shady people like the strip club owner/meth dealer, the local religious leader (who has secrets of his own) and of course the Cade family.

Charlie ruffles feathers, gets a hit put out on him (not to kill him but rough him up) and soon he’s uncovering secrets. It’s a small town and secrets don’t stay buried. And soon he figures things out and it leads to a shocking decision on his part.

This series is becoming one of my favorites even though I’ve only read two books. Charlie is an awesome, really well-written character that’s smart, snarky with an attitude and gets the job done. This is the perfect book to introduce people to the series if you haven’t read any yet.

You can pick up The Dirty South in stores on Tuesday, November 3rd from Atria.