Chasing the Devil's Tail is an historical mystery set in the Storyville era of New Orleans, when prostitution was legal in a specific section of the city and seedy stuff was happening in it. The story revolves around Valentin St. Cyr, a creole detective who can pass as white, thus giving him acce...
In the rowdy red-light district of Storyville, four players of the new music they call "jass" have turned up dead. When Creole detective Valentin St. Cyr begins to investigate, he discovers that every one of the victims once played in the same band, and the only one left alive has gone into hidin...
RAMPART STREET (Private Investigator-New Orleans-1900s) – VGFulmer, David – 3rd in seriesHarcourt, 2006- HardcoverAfter 15 months away, Creole Detective Valerian St. Cyr in back in New Orleans’s red-light district of Storyville. He has lost weight, no longer exhibits his usual style, nor interest...
Valentin could almost hear predatory eyeballs shift in every corner of the room. Right behind these two came Beansoup, his gap-toothed face bobbing, a balloon on a string. His wide eyes got wider at the bright lights and happy noise that had the big room all aglitter and vibrating like a machine....
The fat, pillowy flakes descending in a slow swirl brought gentle memories to Joe Kelly’s mind, faded pictures from the happiest part of his childhood. It was one blessing atop another, and about damned time. Facing yet another holiday season with pockets on empty, he had been living in dread of ...
Keys jangled and the door swung open. “Out,” said the talker of the two, and that was all. There was no doubt who the order was meant for; Miss Dolly didn’t glance up from the yellowed pages of her romance magazine. The matrons were regarding her with a cold apathy that frightened her, and she ha...
Once it was over, he would spend his dawns somewhere far away, hundreds of miles from there, maybe more, depending on how the trains ran east and west through the night. There was nothing but water to the south, and he wasn't about to go north. It would suit him just fine if he never saw that dam...
Soon tongues were wagging like flags in a stiff breeze as the word went over picket and wrought-iron fences, up and down the banquettes, and into the stores, so that hours before the story in the afternoon edition of the Daily Picayune and the Sun hit the street, it was already old news from one ...