I just finished the unlikely read of Mississippi Mud. My attention was drawn to this book because it took place in Biloxi, Mississippi. Ed spent his Air Force days in Biloxi teaching electronics (teaching being highly desirable to being shipped off to Vietnam), teasing my curiosity.
Mississippi Mud, A True Story from a Corner of the Deep South, is a tale of southern "justice" and the dixie mafia. A horrifying read with the unfolding of crime, gambling, murders, prostitution, corruption, nasty deals, unsavory politicians, corrupt judges, dirty-dealing lawyers and bribed prison officials. It includes prisoners making millions from their cell "offices" and the wonder that a US city could be so completely lawless. The Biloxi Strip was a hub of sex, drugs, and sleaze.
Are you ready to read this book yet? Well, for you mystery lovers, it is also a mystery as a daughter tries to find out who violently killed her Judge father and politician mother. She stubbornly pursues the answer from 1987 through 1993, with mixed success, while following a complex and fascinating trail.
This is a true story with the Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist Humes providing extensive footnotes. It proves once again that the truth can be stranger than fiction and left me wondering about the health of our other innocent-appearing cities. Have I been living in a bubble?
Ed was definitely living in a bubble. As a non gambling, non drinking, non carousing military officer he had no idea, when I asked, that the strip was so famous for low life deals, even back in the 60's when he was there. I, of course, wonder if it's been cleaned up since. Biloxi still advertises night clubs, strip clubs and casinos, behind which any number of unsavory activities can still be taking place.
I'm not sure I recommend this book; I'm not sure I don't.
Review by Fran
This sounds like a good read. Brings back fond memories of my own Air Force days in Biloxi in 1969. When was Ed there? I was there for a few weeks of training, which stretched to months after Hurricane Camille disrupted everything. The hurricane also dealt a setback to the casinos, clubs and sleaze, hitting just a couple days after I arrived. Still, I got a memorable taste of the Good Old Boy South.
ReplyDeleteDan, You and Ed overlapped for a short time. He was there from March 1966 to December of 1969. Another one of those wonderful small world stories. Fran
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