Memphis Ribs

by Gerald Duff

It's May in Memphis, and four bloody murders occur on the eve of the International BBQ Contest and the Cotton Carnival: a conventioneer is stabbed at an ATM machine, a gang leader and his girlfriend... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0966452011
• ISBN13: 9780966452013
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Salvo Press
• Length: 220 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Memphian with an open mind

Take a break people. This book is a great read and very entertaining. For the fact checker who detailed the 10 wrong things, really now. It's fiction!!! In fiction you change things in your story sometimes just a tiny bit. As someone who also went to Rhodes I would think that you would have learned the difference. (By the way my brother went to MUS and I have been known to refer to it as Memphis University School)I highly recommend this book if you want a good laugh/ mystery. It is even funnier if you have any exposure to the cotton carnival element of Memphis.

A Rib Tickler.

Gerald Duff's Memphis Ribs is a funny book. Its best quality lies in the dialogue engaged by its main character, Memphis police detective J.W. Ragsdale. I'm from Minnesota, where the best we can come up with is "yah" and "you betcha," so I can't say how accurate the dialect is. But it was enjoyable reading. The comebacks and phrasing were hilarious. Ragsdale is an immediately likable protagonist. Duff's ability to write dialogue reminds me of Robert B. Parker.The story develops nicely too: drugs and murder all set against the backdrop of Memphis and Ragsdale's passion for barbecued pork ribs. I was surprised by how much there is to learn about barbecuing pork. Up here we just throw a couple of beer-soaked brats on the grill and take 'em off when they split. Duff teaches us that the subtleties in cooking methodology and geographical origin of barbecued pork are as varied and consequential as in the world of fine wines.Though the ending left me a bit confused, Memphis Ribs is overall a good effort.

Very good detective thriller set in Memphis TN

This book is very entertaining and fun to read. It has a fast moving story and likeable characters. It is a good detective thriller set in Delta blues country. The hero, J W Ragsdale, is a great, hard bitten detective character. I'd like to see another book with him as the leading character. A friend bought this book for me and I wasn't sure what I was in for....I loved it.Duff did a great job.

Cool Mystery!

Mr. Duff really struck a cord in his new novel, Memphis Ribs. I've lived in Memphis, and he's got the dialect down cold. But I can see why some in that fine city might not like what he has to say...get over it. It's just a mystery. It's supposed to entertain, and it does just that. This book is good enough to be taught in college. Go out and buy it and then pass the word to your friends.

Barbecue and murder, you can't beat that.

Move over Elmore Leonard, Gerald Duff has arrived. I read this book from start to finish in one day, and then went back and read it again. Outstanding! The Memphis dialect is perfect. You can almost smell the barbecue and hear the Delta blues. I'd recommend this book to anyone who loves a good mystery, and for anyone who demands great literature. I've already told my friends. Can't wait for the movie.