HEGWOOD, Martin 1951-

PERSONAL:

Born September 23, 1951, in Pascagoula, MS; married; wife's name Linda (a teacher). Education: University of Mississippi, B.A.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Canton, MS. Office—c/o Office of the Secretary of State, 401 North President St., Jackson, MS 39201. E-mail—mhegwood@sos.state.ms.us.

CAREER:

Office of the Secretary of State of Mississippi, Jackson, senior attorney; writer.

WRITINGS:

Big Easy Backroad, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1999.

The Green-eyed Hurricane, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2000.

Massacre Island, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2001.

Jackpot Bay, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2002.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Currently researching material for a multi-generational historical novel set in the South.

SIDELIGHTS:

Martin Hegwood was raised in a four-generation household deep in the South on a Mississippi Gulf Coast bayou. His parents ran a shrimping business, and as a child he helped to haul the family's boats out of the water in order to repair them. At one time Hegwood considered becoming more involved in his parents' line of work, but he ended up going to school and becoming a lawyer. He worked as an assistant district attorney in Mississippi before taking a position as a lawyer in the office of the Mississippi secretary of state. But Hegwood also aspired to a writing career. At first he considered writing romance novels, since more novels are published in this genre than in any other. But he rejected this idea in favor of the second most popular genre, mystery novels. Since his literary debut in 1999 he has written four well-received mysteries.

Big Easy Backroad, Hegwood's first novel, introduces private investigator Jack Delmas, described by Jenny McLarin in Booklist as a "laid back protagonist." Jack is really most comfortable looking for white-collar criminals involved in insurance fraud, but a beautiful blonde entices him to help her find her boyfriend. She has not seen him for a while, and a local news report about a murder makes her suspect that he might be dead. After drinking a few beers at the bar where the blonde works, Jack promises to help, although the next morning he regrets it. But when the blonde also turns up dead, Jack becomes the prime suspect and the plot thickens. Trying to prove his innocence, he finds himself tangled up with a local mob, whom he suspects was also involved in killing his partner a few years ago. When Jack gets too close to the truth, the mob tries to kill him.

Big Easy Backroad earned high praise. A writer for Kirkus Reviews hailed it as "atmospheric and action-packed," while McLarin noted it as "a suspenseful and entertaining beginning to a promising series."

Jack Delmas makes his second appearance in The Green-eyed Hurricane, which is set in Biloxi in the aftermath of Hurricane Camille. Once a slow-paced seaside town, Biloxi, Mississippi was devastated by the storm; in its wake came rampant new development, including big-time gambling casinos and real estate speculation. In the novel Jack finds himself trying to defend his old buddy, shrimper Casper Perinovich, who tries singlehandedly to fight the developers who want his home and, better yet, his prime water-front acreage. Casper refuses to give in, and one night his house explodes in fire with Casper still inside. At one point, Casper had told the investors that the only way they would get his land was over his dead body. So, Casper's niece and heir suspects foul play and pleads with Jack to investigate. A writer for Publishers Weekly admired the book's "kaleidoscope of action" as well as its roster of colorful characters including "lusty women, beer-swilling rednecks and snarling Vietnamese thugs." A Kirkus Reviews writer found this second novel "even better than Hegwood's pleasant debut."

Massacre Island, the third "Jack Delmas" mystery novel, takes place off the picturesque coast of Alabama on Dauphin Island, where Jack has gone to investigate a murder. The story soon involves white supremacists, drug smuggling, and a radical environmentalist group. In Library Journal Rex Klett praised the book's "unnerving action" and "atmospheric" rendering of the Gulf Coast setting. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly also enjoyed the setting, commenting that Hegwood paints such an attractive picture of Dauphin Island that "one feels like packing one's bags and heading south."

The fourth installment in the "Jack Delmas" series is Hegwood's Jackpot Bay, which takes place in what Booklist reviewer Jenny McLarin referred to as the "Redneck Riviera," Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. When the city's large casino starts losing money, its owners grow more and more suspicious. So they send blonde beauty Tara Stocklin, an accountant, to investigate. They also employ Delmas to make sure nothing happens to Tara while she works on the case. Tara does remain safe, but someone else gets shot. The book is filled with "wry humor, high adventure …and a lot of fun," wrote Rex E. Klett in Library Journal. "Hegwood knows his stuff," observed Jenny McLarin in Booklist, "and it shows."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 1, 1999, Jenny McLarin, review of Big Easy Backroad, p. 1800; October 15, 2002, Jenny McLarin, review of Jackpot Bay, p. 391.

Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 1999, review of Big Easy Backroad, p. 921; May 15, 2000, review of The Green-eyed Hurricane, p. 671; August 15, 2001, review of Massacre Island, p. 1167; September 15, 2002, review of Jackpot Bay, p. 1355.

Library Journal, October 1, 2001, Rex E. Klett, review of Massacre Island, p. 145; November 1, 2002, review of Jackpot Bay, p. 132.

Publishers Weekly, June 21, 1999, review of Big Easy Backroad, p. 60; May 29, 2000, review of The Green-eyed Hurricane, p. 55; September 10, 2001, review of Massacre Island, p. 64.

ONLINE

Mystery Reader,http://www.themysteryreader.com/ (September 15, 2000), Thea Davis, review of The Green-eyed Hurricane.