The next day I drove down to Vicksburg and checked into my room at the Cedar Grove Mansion Inn, an antebellum B&B that boasts a cannonball lodged in the parlor wall.

Cedar Grove Mansion Inn, from the back	View of the grounds from my balcony

I stayed in Rhett’s Penthouse Suite.	Where Rick Shannon will live

It was my bad luck that the River City Blues Museum was closed the days I was there but I did find all I needed for the setting of the story, since Rick Shannon (my protagonist) lives in Vicksburg. In fact I decided to move him in to the apartment building that was converted from The Vicksburg Hotel.

After two days there, I drove up to Yazoo City where an old friend happened to be selling off the family mansion. The once fine Bon Ton restaurant was now a scuzzy convenience store called Beer & Butts, a true sign of the times. Then it was north again on Highway 49 through Eden, Thornton, Tchula, Cruger, and Sidon on my way to Greenwood where I was staying at The Alluvian Hotel. An honest to God five star hotel in the middle of . . . Greenwood, Mississippi’s famed cotton row district. Unfortunately, none of my photos of this place do it justice. But go to "thealluvian.com" and check it out.

More bad luck that the Greenwood Blues Museum was closed when I was there. However the nice folks at the Dancing Rabbit Books gave me directions out to Robert Johnson’s grave (one of several graves in the state purported to hold the remains of the blues master, but this is the one that is supposed to be real).


Later, my pal, the beautiful and exciting, Carol Daily (of Sweet Potato Queen, Everyday Gourmet, and Viking fame) took me out for a drive at sunset, past the remains of the store where Emmett Till wolf-whistled at a white woman, for which he was killed. (See Lewis Nordan’s ‘Wolf Whistle’ review on the Recently Read page elsewhere on this site). On the way, we passed this little old radio station that was too perfect.



We had a big ripe peach sunset over a cotton field before returning to the Alluvian and dinner at Giardina’s, a Delta tradition with great food (get the tamales!) and private booths since 1936.

The next morning, after a nice breakfast at the hotel, I drove back to Memphis to return to LA and get to work on the book. I wish I had time to go back for more.

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