The St. Charles House

by Stephen Banister

A rollicking, irreverent rock & roll murder mystery set in the famous--and infamous--6th Street party district in Austin, Texas. This is the first novel in Banister's series chronicling the mis-adventures of poker-playing, wise-cracking slacker sleuth Emerson "Tuck" Tucker, his side-kick, Pig Dog, and their odd assortment of cronies. Sixth Street in Austin, Texas, is notorious for its party atmosphere and its strange goings-on, but things get just a little too strange when bartender Anthony Court takes a terminal swan dive off the roof of the St. Charles House Hotel. When easygoing Emerson "Tuck" Tucker, who won the old residence hotel/office building in a poker game, starts to clear out his recently deceased tenant's apartment, he finds a large stash of cocaine hidden in a brass spittoon and an AR-15 rifle cached behind a concealed panel. The cops maintain that Court's death was a suicide, but Tuck thinks different. Drugs and guns aren't that hard to find on Sixth Street, but what he found was more coke than your average bartender would have, and way too much rifle. Tuck can't leave the question of Court's death alone. When he starts to nose around, someone breaks into his apartment in the St. Charles House and puts a bullet into Pig Dog, his beloved, if somewhat socially challenged, golden retriever. As a warning and a threat, shooting a Texan's dog is just about as effective as drawing to an inside straight. The people responsible are about to find out just how rough a poker-playing slacker of a good-old boy can play their game.

284 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 11, 2011

Reviews

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Title: The St.Charles Place
Author: Stephen Banister
ISBN: 0981986633 9780981986630
Reviewed by Jane Burdette

The St. Charles Place is written by Stephen Banister, about a good ole boy named "Tuck" and his life on Sixth Street in Austin, Texas. Tuck lives with his faithful companion Pig Dog, who happens to be a golden retriever, who has never met a stranger. Tuck has his two sidekicks or should we say "partners in crime" Tommy and Mickey.

The St. Charles Place, Tuck won in a card game, and which he lives in and rents the rest of the rooms out, to professionals. The St Charles Place is a hotel, that holds the secrets of the past when people used cubbyholes called "prohibition closet" to hide their booze, when booze was illegal.

Tuck, Tommy, and Mickey are on the trail of illegal guns, drugs, and gangster that we commonly call lobbyist. Tommy is the man who loves all kinds of guns, Mickey is the man who you want as your attorney on call, and Tuck is the man who you want to be your best friend. Pig Dog is the dog that everyone should have as a best friend and companion.

The St.Charles Place starts out with Tuck and Pig Dog, awakened by rats dancing on the roof, but turns out one on Tuck's tenants took a swan drive, and Tuck got involved when he went to see who danced off his roof. He was immediately arrested, and Mickey had to get him out of jail, then Tuck's life became a little faster paced than poor Tuck was use to. Two days later, he and Pig Dog finds another suicide and yes Tuck knows the victim also, and he again is arrested but this time for kicking the detective in a very sensitive place that all men try to keep out of harms way.

The St.Charles Place is fast paced, intriguing, and will make reading the book well worth the money investing in buying it. It is well written, and you can relate to all the main characters that live on Sixth Street in Austin Texas. You will laugh and want to share the amusing adventures of Tuck, and his sidekicks with anyone who is sitting in the same room with you.

Jane Burdette

[Brian Maicke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book through First Reads.

The St. Charles House is the first "Tuck" Tucker mystery. The story follows a wisecracking landlord as he drift through life in Austin. When a local bartender, and Tuck's neighbor, falls off of his building the police think suicide but Tuck isn't sure. He carries on a casual side investigation and when more evidence is found, Tuck and his friends become too deeply involved to get clear.

The pros:
I enjoyed the story.
Setting the story in Austin gave the characters and background a rather unique feel.
The resolution had a minor twist I hadn't seen coming.

The cons:
Tuck was a little too wisecracky. Even wisecrackers have a serious moment now and then.
The length, the book was 213 pages and while it managed to get everything wrapped up by then, I can't help but feel that there could have been more to the story.
The book is published by Dark Star Books which is a smallish house from Texas. The odds of seeing this book at your local Barnes and Noble is probably pretty slim and even Amazon only has 1 copy as of this writing.

The verdict:
There isn't anything terribly groundbreaking here. It is a solid fish-out-of-water detective story, but other than the Austin setting there isn't much to set it apart from other mysteries. However, I enjoyed the story and the book has probably taken over as my favorite book won from First Reads.

[Shelleyrae at Book'd Out · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got it in the mail July 5th - a Good Reads Giveaway :)

I enjoy a quick wit and a smart mouth and Tuck has plenty of that. The one liners and casual irrevererance will keep you chuckling. Tuck is a good ol boy who enjoys a drink, a card game and women (all just a little less than his dog) but it's hard to hold that against him. Banister is playing on stereotypes of an urban cowboy against the city life of Austin Texas.
Tuck finds himself involved in a gun & drug running intrigue after his tenant takes a forced dive off the roof of St Charles House, but it becomes personal when they shoot his dog and along with his pals they aim to take the corrupt lobbyists down.
My only niggle is that a little homophobia leaks out at one point which I was disappointed in since it wasn't necessary.
Yet I enjoyed the story, reminds me a little of a Spenser (Robert B Parker) or Fitzroy Angel(Mike Ripley) styles - I'd certainly enjoy reading more in the series. I probably would not have picked this up as a deliberate choice but I am glad I got a chance to read it and find something new to enjoy.

[Lora · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an entertaining mystery book. It is the 3rd book I have won from Goodreads. The characters are fun and varied. Tuck, the main character, takes nonchalance and tongue-in-cheek to a new height. Parts of the ending were predictable others were not. I enjoyed the story and would read more by this author.

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It seemed that everytime Tuck turned around, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time! This book was filled with adventure and surprises. I can't wait for the next book in the series to come out!

FTC disclosure: I received this book free from Goodreads hoping that I would review it.

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting read...author has a unique style that kept my interest.

[Georgiann Hennelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

The St Charles house is a Rock &Roll murder mystery set in the -6th streeet party district in Austi, Texas. Tuck is a good ole boy who enjoys a drink , a card game and women. When Tuck finds himself involved in a gun& drug running intrigue after his tenant takes a forced dive off the roof of the St Charles house, But it becomes personal when they shoot his dog. Along with his pals Tuck aims to take the corrupt Lobbyists down. I really enjoyed the story and look forward to reading more books by Stephen Banister.

[A · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won a copy of this book on Goodreads.com.

[Anne]

I want to start this series soon after I finish the Sookie Stackhouse series!

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story and how the author writes. I passed along to my friends who say they "LOVED" it. Gave 3 stars as I am a tough rater - got this book through Goodreads Giveaways!

[Allie]

Written by a local author, this was my book club's pick for January. I was under the impression — based on the first chapter — that it was supposed to be a murder mystery set in Austin, but it wasn't until about the last 15 pages or so that the characters actually had anything to do with figuring out who the killer was. The journey to get to the ending was interesting enough, but then the story wrapped up so fast and without sufficient explanation that it lost a lot of steam right when it was supposed to be getting good. Also, it had more metaphors in its pages than probably every other book I've ever read. Combined.