Final novel in Mississippi trilogy wraps up storylines, explores history of coast culture
Candace Cox Wheeler completes her 50-year glimpse of life on the Mississippi Coast in her latest novel, “Sunset in the Sound.”
This last edition of her trilogy and recent publication by Dogwood Press reveals the concluding story of Carrie Burns and Judge David Tauzin as they reside in Biloxi.
After enjoying a long-married life and the excitement of raising their family, as well as experiencing historic coastal transitions, the couple decides in the closing chapter of this chronicle to “discover what’s beyond the horizon.”
After 50 years of building a safe home for their family, they are ready to embark on a new adventure. In reaching this end, Wheeler adeptly weaves all storylines that followed Carrie and David from her previous two novels into a rich fabric of intrigue and achievement.
Wheeler includes the Tauzins’ granddaughter, Vickie Burns, as a main character to highlight the passage of time and to introduce Keesler Air Force Base and its role in the development of Biloxi and World War II. Following Vickie and Mac Simpson, a young man from Savannah, Georgia, who was stationed at Keesler, Wheeler allows their relationship to develop while featuring the musical success of Vickie.
The author skillfully underscores musicians who performed on the Gulf Coast or famous personalities who appeared there in legendary clubs such as Gus Stevens’ Supper Club or Sie’s Place owned
PRESS
Celebrated people such as Elvis Presley and Hank Williams as well as a host of others played on the Coast, putting Biloxi on the music circuit in the 1950s during the conclusion of “Sunset in the Sound.” Wheeler intwines actual places, people and performers into this aspect of the novel to give it a historical, musical and cultural ring.
by Sie Simon.
Celebrated people such as Elvis Presley and Hank Williams as well as a host of others played on the Coast, putting Biloxi on the music circuit in the 1950s during the conclusion of “Sunset in the Sound.” Wheeler intwines actual places, people and performers into this aspect of the novel to give it a historical, musical and cultural ring.
Wheeler also creates a narrative in “Sunset in the Sound” based on the checkered past of gambling in Biloxi. Many of the main personalities of the novel involve themselves in illegal gambling at the time of the story, including relatives of the Tauzins. The author also explains the underworld connection to the gambling activities in Biloxi with cities such as New Orleans and Chicago.
In reading the section describing the trial that the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services initiates to investigate illegal gambling and its detrimental impact on the young cadets, especially from Keesler, readers might forget they are following a novel and not reading a historical account.
As this is the linchpin to her story, Wheeler’s navigation and presentation of the Hearing Before the Preparedness Subcommittee of the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate, 82nd Congress, First Session on Illegal Gambling Activities Near Keesler Air Force Base are masterful.
With this hearing on Oct. 22, 1951, the federal government addressed the gambling issue in Biloxi and its myriad participants from local citizens and slot machine owners to mob bosses.
Illegal gambling that had been tolerated openly would cease to exist in the city until 1992 when gambling became a legal activity.
Candace Cox Wheeler has researched and created an enjoyable and educational experience for readers who delve into her three-novel series about life in Biloxi from the early 1900s to the late 1950s.
With this book, the author answers all questions from her previous two works. She addresses the fishing industry, the tourism industry, and the gambling industry that contribute to a remarkable history of one town along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
She places her novel in historical context with events and personalities across the United States and remarkably, includes the actual names of local people who once lived or are still living in Biloxi, locations both in the town and along the Gulf Coast and cultural events that are still occurring today. Wheeler’s novel is a delightful mix of love, history, intrigue and reconciliation.
A review of ‘Sunset in the Sound’
● By Candace Cox Wheeler
● Dogwood Press
● Hardcover; 333 pages
— Deanne Love Stephens is a professor of history at the University of Southern Mississippi who specializes in Mississippi and medical history. She is the author of two books, Plague Among the Magnolias: The 1878 Yellow Fever Epidemic in Mississippi and The Mississippi Gulf Coast Seafood Industry: A People’s History, as well as numerous journal articles.