Aurora Teagarden
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Series · mystery
Skip Langdon
The Skip Langdon series by Julie Smith has 11 known books (11 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with New Orleans Mourning (1990).
- Books
- 11 known books (11 novels)
- Published
- 11
- First published
- 1990
- Status
- hiatus
- Shelved under
- Mystery & Crime
- Last checked
Start here: New Orleans Mourning (1990) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
New Orleans Mourning
New Orleans Mourning opens the Skip Langdon series in 1990 with a Mardi Gras Day murder during the Rex parade, and won Julie Smith the 1991 Edgar Award for Best Novel. It introduces the six-foot, Uptown-born-and-bred detective whose cases keep dragging her back into the New Orleans society she was raised in and rejected.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of New Orleans Mourning - Book 2:
The Axeman's Jazz
The Axeman's Jazz sits between New Orleans Mourning and Jazz Funeral in the Skip Langdon series, arriving in 1991. Julie Smith, a former Times-Picayune reporter, echoes the city's real Axeman murders with a journalist's eye for institutional detail.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Axeman's Jazz - Book 3:
Jazz Funeral
Jazz Funeral follows The Axeman's Jazz in the Skip Langdon series, published in 1993. Julie Smith sets the case inside New Orleans's funeral industry, one of the well-observed corners of city life that anchor each book in the series.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Jazz Funeral - Book 4:
New Orleans Beat
New Orleans Beat precedes House of Blues in the Skip Langdon series, published in 1994. It was later reissued as Death Before Facebook -- the same book under a different title, not a separate entry.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of New Orleans Beat - Book 5:
House of Blues
House of Blues, running 352 pages, was published in 1995 as the fifth Skip Langdon novel. Julie Smith keeps Skip investigating cases tied to New Orleans's jazz clubs and Mardi Gras krewes, the overlapping worlds that run through the whole series.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of House of Blues - Book 6:
The Kindness of Strangers
The Kindness of Strangers is the sixth novel in the Skip Langdon series, published in 1996. Julie Smith's comic touch continues to keep the violence from turning grim, a balance she maintains across all eleven books.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Kindness of Strangers - Book 7:
Crescent City Kill
Crescent City Kill, published in 1997, is part of the Skip Langdon series and was later reissued as Crescent City Connection -- the same book under a different title. It continues Julie Smith's journalist's-eye tour of New Orleans's underside.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Crescent City Kill - Book 8:
82 Desire
82 Desire, book eight of the Skip Langdon series, appeared in 1998. It introduces Talba Wallis, the poet-turned-private-investigator who debuts here as a minor character before headlining her own four-book spinoff series.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of 82 Desire - Book 9:
Mean Woman Blues
Mean Woman Blues comes after 82 Desire and before Murder On Magazine, published in 2003 -- also reissued as Boneyard Blues under a different title. It was the last Skip Langdon novel for fifteen years before Julie Smith returned to the series.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Mean Woman Blues - Book 10:
Murder On Magazine
Murder On Magazine arrived fifteen years after Mean Woman Blues, continuing the Skip Langdon series in 2018 -- a real publishing gap, not a missing book, as Julie Smith picked the story back up where it left off.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Murder On Magazine - Book 11:
The Big Crazy
Following Murder On Magazine, The Big Crazy arrived in 2019 as the eleventh and latest entry in the Skip Langdon series, continuing Julie Smith's run of New Orleans-set mysteries three decades after New Orleans Mourning launched it.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Big Crazy
About the Skip Langdon series
Skip Langdon is a six-foot-tall, Uptown-born-and-bred New Orleans police detective (later homicide lieutenant) who spends the series solving crimes that keep dragging her back into the city's overlapping worlds -- old-money society she was raised in and rejected, Mardi Gras krewes, jazz clubs, and the Quarter's underside -- across eleven novels by Edgar Award-winning author Julie Smith. New Orleans Mourning (1990) opens the series with a Mardi Gras Day murder during the Rex parade and won Smith the 1991 Edgar Award for Best Novel; the books that follow keep Skip investigating cases tied tightly to specific, well-observed corners of New Orleans life, from the Axeman-murders true-crime echo of The Axeman's Jazz to the funeral-industry setting of Jazz Funeral. Smith, a former New Orleans Times-Picayune reporter, writes the city with a journalist's eye for institutional detail and a comic touch that keeps the violence from turning grim. Skip's supporting cast expands as the series goes -- most notably Talba Wallis, the poet-turned-private-investigator who debuts as a minor character in 82 Desire (1998) before headlining her own four-book spinoff series. After 2003's Mean Woman Blues, the series went quiet for fifteen years before Smith returned to it with two further novels, Murder on Magazine (2018) and The Big Crazy (2019).
Frequently asked questions
How many Skip Langdon books are there?
Eleven, from New Orleans Mourning (1990) to The Big Crazy (2019).
What order should I read the Skip Langdon books in?
Publication order, starting with New Orleans Mourning, which won the 1991 Edgar Award for Best Novel.
Why do some Skip Langdon books have two titles?
Three were reissued under new names: New Orleans Beat as Death Before Facebook, Crescent City Kill as Crescent City Connection, and Mean Woman Blues as Boneyard Blues. Each pair is the same book, not separate entries.
How is Skip Langdon connected to Talba Wallis?
Talba Wallis first appears as a supporting character in 82 Desire (1998), the eighth Skip Langdon novel, before getting her own four-book spinoff series.
Is there a long gap in the Skip Langdon series?
Yes -- fifteen years passed between Mean Woman Blues (2003) and Murder on Magazine (2018), Smith's return to the character.
If you like the Skip Langdon series
Reading order last verified .