Belle Isle

by Howard Owen

When two teenage lovers find a human leg while cavorting in the thickets of Belle Isle, can Willie Black be far behind? Belle Isle, in the middle of the James River, was one of Willie's party spots growing up wild in Oregon Hill, and it's a short walk from where he now resides in the posh Prestwould. Now, as the 50-something night cops reporter for the local daily, he returns to his old haunts to try to unravel a mystery. When it becomes known that the dismembered member belonged to Teddy "T-Bone" Delmonico, a state college football legend, whose now-widow is running for a seat in the House of Representatives, the plot thickens. The deceased had plenty of the investors who lost their nest eggs in a scheme fronted by T-Bone and an associate, a former wife with an ax to grind, and, among others, the grieving widow. Who did it, and why, will consume Richmond's most dogged journalist, who drinks too much, smokes too much and hopes the fourth time is a charm, marriage-wise. Willie Black, whose first-person voice has been called by the New York Times "a crisp and colorful urban idiom we can't wait to hear again," is on the prowl, looking for answers.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

228 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 30, 2020

About the author

Howard Owen was born March 1, 1949, in Fayetteville, N.C. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1971, journalism) and has a master's degree from Virginia Commonwealth University (1981, English).
He and his wife since 1973, Karen Van Neste Owen (the former publisher of Van Neste Books), live in Richmond, Va. He was a newspaper reporter and editor for 44 years.
Owen won The Dashiell Hammett Prize for crime literature in the United States and Canada for Oregon Hill, his 10th novel.
His first novel, "Littlejohn," was written in 1989, when he was 40. It was bought by The Permanent Press and published in 1992. Random House bought it from The Permanent Press and reissued it as a Villard hardcover in 1993 and a Vintage Contemporary paperback in 1994. It was nominated for the Abbey Award (American Booksellers) and Discovery (Barnes & Noble) award for best new fiction. It has sold, in all, more than 50,000 copies. It has been printed in Japanese, French and Korean; it has been a Doubleday Book Club selection; audio and large-print editions have been issued, and movie option rights have been sold.
His second novel, "Fat Lightning," came out as a Permanent Press book in 1994. It was bought by HarperCollins and was reissued as a Harper Perennial paperback in 1996. It received a starred review from Publishers' Weekly.
His third novel, "Answers to Lucky," was published by HarperCollins as a hardcover in 1996 and as a paperback in 1997. It received favorable reviews in The New York Times, Southern Living, GW, Publishers' Weekly, the Atlanta Constitution, the Baltimore Sun, the Memphis Commercial Appeal and numerous other publications. It was included in "The Best Novels of the Nineties: A Reader’s Guide."
His fourth novel, "The Measured Man," was published in hardcover by HarperCollins in 1997. It was praised in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Publishers' Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, the Raleigh News & Observer, the Orlando Sentinel, the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel and many other publications. It was one of the LA Times Book Reviews’ "Recommended Titles" for 1997. It was included in "The Best Novels of the Nineties: A Reader’s Guide."
Owen's fifth novel, "Harry and Ruth," was published by The Permanent Press in September of 2000 to critical acclaim from Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly and various weekly publications.
His sixth novel, "The Rail," was published in April of 2002. It is about (among other things) baseball and the parable of the talents. Owen won the 2002 Theresa Pollack Award for Words.
His seventh novel, "Turn Signal," was about a man whose muse drives him either to madness or to the best move he's ever made in his life. It came out in 2004 and was a Booksense selection for July of 2004.
His eighth novel, "Rock of Ages," is something of a sequel to his first novel, "Littlejohn." Georgia McCain returns to her hometown years after her father’s death to sell the family farm and finds herself immersed in baby-boomer guilt and a murder mystery. It was a Booksense pick for July of 2006.

His ninth novel, "The Reckoning," about ghosts of the ’60s, came out in late 2010 and received very positive reviews from, among others, Publishers Weekly and the New York Journal of Books.
His short story, "The Thirteenth Floor," part of "Richmond Noir," came out in early 2010.
The protagonist of “The Thirteenth Floor,” Willie Black, also is at the center of Owen’s 10th novel, “Oregon Hill,” which came in July of 2012 to very positive reviews in The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus and elsewhere. It's also an audio book.

Willie starred in future Owen novels: The Philadelphia Quarry (2013), Parker Field (2014), The Bottom (2015), Grace (2016) and The Devil's Triangle (2017). His 16th novel, Annie's Bones, comes out in April of 2018.

Reviews

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Willie Black, three times divorced, happily but not always securely remarried, crime beat reporter in Richmond VA, hangs out with childhood friends, drinks too much, sees too much, and tries not to lose what’s left of his job on the newspaper. He’s cynically wise, sharply observant, poignantly aging, and a treat for any reader to hang around with. His voice rings clear and individual in Belle Isle, the latest in Howard Owen’s mystery series. And Willie Black’s concerns ring wholly contemporary and real.

Memories of the past, characters of the present, trials and tribulations of the blogger, and a dogged determination to find out who did what, all triumph in this tale. Somebody left a body on the island. A leg was found. A wife is in politics. An old friend is in the criminal underworld. And a wealth of characters populate the pages. Readers familiar with the series will delight to see how earlier trials have played out. New readers will simply delight in the voice and the story. And those familiar with Richmond will enjoy its vividly depicted regions while strangers simply enjoy the visit.

The story’s worth lots of column inches. And the truth may be stranger than any fiction Black declines to write. Meanwhile the beauty of news is lost to the blog and the island of the newsroom is sinking.

Disclosure: I was given a preview edition and I freely offer my honest review.

[Paul Mashack · Rating 4 out of 5]

This might be the most Richmond thing ever. After listening to this audiobook for about 45 minutes, I was about to abort. It just seemed a bit too... contrived. Even the narrator's accent seemed too much of a southern cliche. Having lived in and around Richmond for nearly my entire life, it is doubtful I have ever heard any speak with Willie Black's exaggerated southern accent in these parts.

Fortunately, I saw the book to its end because it was well worth it.

I would call this book borderline satirical, but there's no need for satire when our fair city is already awash in absurdities. Sometimes truth is better than fiction (even if this book IS fiction).

[Lizanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Noirish and funny. Somehow I happened upon this book without knowing it was part of a series -- now I'll go back and read some others. The latest in a long line of worldly and cynical detectives, Willie Black's voice is vivid (he's a reporter but serves as a detective here). I'm a fairly recent resident of Richmond (10 years), so it was extra fun to catch the real-life RVA places and references. I'm also the daughter of a newspaper copy editor, so the inside stories about newspaper life rang true.

I recommend this to fans of John D. McDonald and John Grisham.

[tamcderm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very entertaining book, especially for a resident of Richmond. My only suggestion for improvement, as a listener of the audio book, is to ask the narrator to reduce the well-done Richmond accent. Kevin Kenerly is a talented actor. I just don’t believe Willie Black, who grew up in Oregon Hill pronounces “morning” as “moaning”. That most of Willie’s accent is more characteristic of someone raised in Richmond’s west end.

[Mike Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure (again) - Howard is a friend and my former boss.
This is an excellent series. Really enjoy the Willie Black tales and eagerly await the next one.

This book won't be out in hardback until later in the summer but is available on Kindle now.

[John Sargent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very lively

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, not Michael Connelly but...

I enjoyed most of it, ending still had some unanswered questions.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED this one -- very well done -- I could not figure it out until the very end!

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars because the author captured all of the nuances of RVA perfectly. The whodunnit was weak and predictable but all things considered definitely enjoyable.