The Blues Ain't Nothin': Tales of the Lonesome Blues Pub

by Tina L. Jens

Ramble on up to the Chicago North Side, where you'll feel the twelve-bar blues beat vibrating right through you. Welcome to the Lonesome Blues Pub, where the sign on the door says it all: "This club is haunted. If you're afraid of ghosts, go away."

Grab a stool by the bar, toss back a cool one and join Miss Mustang, the Lonesome Blues proprietor, and a colorfully quirky cast of neighborhood regulars and the ghosts of blues legends both real and imagined. Chicago author Tina L. Jens' new episodic novel will make you shiver with fright, will surely make you chuckle, and may even make you shed a thoughtful tear or two during your delightfully surreal stay in this haunted blues club.

208 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2002

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun story that included Chicago, the blues, and a ghost or two. Glad I read it.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started this book a while back, but put it down, because I'm not much of a short story reader. Then life got in the way, and it got lost in the bookcase. I rediscovered it and immersed myself in Tales of the Lonesome Blues Pub.

Interesting concept, especially in that all the mentioned musician ghosts were real blues players, as far as I can tell. Why they all decided to hang out at Miss Sarah's pub, isn't entirely clear. At least Jayhawk had an excuse -- he died there. The stories were imaginative, even though I'm not particularly familiar with the Blues (more of a Jazz girl, myself.)

I wished I'd had a playlist and CD to accompany reading this. I did find that Jens created a recommended listening list but only too late to do me any good.

This book was a 2003 Bram Stoker Award nominee for Best First Novel.

[Kristine (fezabel) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book to read over Halloween. It's spooky, chilling in places, but very human and down to earth. The characters are likable, just like the ghosts. The author knows her music and it shows. The ghosts were real blues musicians (and the live ones too). The stories are a bit much at times, but for a first book it's good. I wish I had a companion CD with it to listen to the blues and hear the songs as they're meant to be.