Danielle Arceneaux's Glory Daze

 

By Margaret S. Hamilton

 

Danielle Arceneaux knocks her second book, Glory Daze, out of the ballpark. Glory Beverly Broussard is a sixty-something divorcee enjoying her second career as a bookie. Her life is finally settling down after she identifies her best friend Amity Gay’s killer in the first book of the series, Glory B. She meets her gambling clients on Sunday mornings at the CC Coffee House in Lafayette, Louisiana.

And then along comes trouble—Valerie Le Blanc, the despised second wife of Glory’s ex, Sterling, who is missing. Valerie pleads for help finding him and, mindful of protecting her daughter Delphine, Glory goes on the hunt. She finds Sterling dead.

 

Delphine, a big city lawyer, arrives for her daddy’s funeral and sticks around with her friend, talented chef, Justice, to assist Glory in identifying Sterling’s killer. For better or worse, Valerie joins the group of women. Going undercover, Glory investigates the casino where Sterling worked, and a racehorse stable affiliated with the casino.

 

Arceneaux’s pacing is excellent, with the settings of the casino, stable, and Glory’s home precisely detailed. Delphine is a well-drawn secondary character with a complex set of issues to resolve. Delphine’s relationship with her mother improves as they learn to respect and depend on each other.

 

Justice is a wonderful character, a talented up and coming chef who saves Glory’s reputation by creating her own variation of the traditional Mardi Gras king cake.

 

My favorite scenes describe Glory’s talents as a bookie and gambler. When she’s at the blackjack table in the casino, she’s a natural card counter:

 

Glory played double Dutch when she was a girl, and blackjack had a lot in common with it. First you got a sense of the speed of the ropes. Once you had a sense of the speed, you jumped right in and kept time. Just as she did last time, she wagered low amounts at first, until she got into the rhythm of the cards. Within five or so hands she was in the groove, just like when she was a girl, dancing and jumping between the ropes. (p.131)

 

Glory is a successful small-time bookie, who devises her own lines and percentages by watching on-line videos from Las Vegas experts. Glory, however, adds an additional factor—the wind. “Statistically, quarterbacks who know how to throw in the wind will always have the advantage, even with a weaker defensive line.” (p.44) Glory isn’t glued to ESPN, but rather, The Weather Channel.

 

Glory Daze is a terrific addition to Arceneaux’s series, set in a small southern town with big city problems.

 

Readers and writers, do you enjoy reading and writing about small towns?

 

Margaret S. Hamilton’s debut amateur sleuth novel, What the Artist Left Behind, is on submission.

 

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