Memphis Mojo
memphis mojo

 
Publisher: Lamar University Literary Press, February 2014
In Memphis Mojo, J.W. Ragsdale, a failed cotton farmer turned Memphis homicide detective, is faced with a cowboy preacher, a home invasion, urban gangs, and a killer who sees spirits and converses with the dead, including Martin Luther King, Jr and Rickey Nelson. The setting is Memphis, in the year celebrating the 50th anniversary of Elvis Presley's recording of his first song at Sun Studio, That's All Right, an event publicized in the Bluff City as "A Global Moment in Time."
In Memphis Mojo, crimes are committed and solved, but the story truly centers about a place, a time, a social profile, and a set of characters in the grip of music, magic, and mania.
Reviews of Memphis Mojo
“There is no time to relax in this story; events morph into conflicts, then crises on several fronts and seemingly isolated pathways in the novel begin to converge unexpectedly in a swelling suspense. Then comes the surprise ending..” --Harold Raley, author of Louisiana Rogue

"The best thing about Memphis Mojo is the dialogue. The dialogue! Ragsdale and Walker are like George and Gracie, Ralph and Alice, Lorelai and Rory Gilmore. The dialogue between these two is intricate and seamless. The Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers of conversation." --Texas Book Lover

"Over the course of 17 books, Gerald Duff has proven himself a Southern treasure. His novels and short stories are as remarkable as his poetry and memoirs. ... 'Memphis Mojo' begins in a local International House of Pancakes where a gang of four has gathered to discuss — sometimes loudly — all sorts of stuff, including their next caper. ... All of this comes together in brilliantly convoluted, wholly satisfying fashion. Pretentions are skewered while Memphis is celebrated in the wry, wicked and completely winning 'Memphis Mojo.' Duff's got just enough of the old mojo and that's a good thing, a real good thing." --Steven Whitton, Anniston Star


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