SMFS list member O’Neil De Noux's latest book, New
Orleans Hardboiled, is now out in print and eBook formats. This is the
seventh book in the Lucien Caye Private Eye Series that began
with New Orleans Rapacious. The read that is of twelve short
stories is available at Amazon.
Synopsis:
A collection of 12 crime fiction stories featuring New
Orleans Private Eye Lucien Caye.
Come prowl the lonely, sometimes violent streets of
America's most exotic city, the city that care forgot with lone wolf private
eye Lucien Caye.
Unlike most 1940s PI's, Caye rarely drinks, doesn't
smoke or wear a hat (it messes up his hair). He's six feet tall with wavy, dark
brown hair, a cleft chin, standard-issue Mediterranean brown eyes, a sly smile
and a clever mind that often gets him into trouble. Caye lives and works in the
lower-class French Quarter of the late 1940s. He has a weakness for women,
children and fellow WWII veterans. He makes a living but sometimes works
pro-bono.
Born in New Orleans of French and Spanish descent,
Caye attended Holy Cross High School before working as a copy boy and cub
reporter for The New Orleans Item. A stint as a crime reporter drew Caye to law
enforcement and he joined the New Orleans Police Department in 1939 where he
was a patrol officer until December 7, 1941. He joined the U.S. Army and served
in North Africa, Sicily and the subsequent Italian Campaign at Anzio and
Salerno. At the Battle of Monte Cassino, Caye met and befriended journalist Ernie
Pyle during the bitter stalemate. Leading an assault on the infamous monastery,
Caye was seriously wounded by a German sniper and sent home with a Purple Heart
Medal and Silver Star for bravery.
After the war, he returned to NOPD, working the French
Quarter beat until deciding he preferred working along and set up in an
apartment building at the corner of Barracks and Dauphine Streets, not far from
the fictional residence of Tennessee Williams' Stanley Kowalski. Living
upstairs, Caye's office faces Barracks Street and the small Cabrini Park
Playground across the narrow street where he usually parks his pre-way 1940
two-door DeSoto coach.
Murder is often the name of the game as Lucien Caye
often aids pretty women in need of help, in more ways than one. Unfortunately,
the truth is often ugly, often dangerous and usually resides in the lonliest
part of town.
The stories in his collection have appeared in top
mystery magazines like Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Mystery
Magazine, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, and The Strand Mystery Magazine, as
well as a number of mystery anthologies.
"Sac-a-Lait Man" was awarded the 2020
Private Eye Writers of America's prestigious SHAMUS AWARD for BEST PRIVATE EYE
SHORT STORY. The SHAMUS is given annually to recognize outstanding achievement
in private eye fiction.
"A Dreamboat Gambol" was a finalist for the
2021 SHAMUS AWARD for BEST PRIVATE EYE SHORT STORY.
"Effect on Men" was a finalist for the
DERRINGER AWARD for BEST LONG STORY. The DERRINGER awards are given annually by
the Short Mystery Fiction Society to recognize excellence in short mystery
fiction.
Set between 1947 and 1950, these stories sometimes
reflect the political incorrectness of that era. African-Americans were
referred to as Colored or Negroes (and worse) and women were often seen as
dames and broads. Some of the stories are properly hardboiled while others are
gentle enough for magazines.
Hope you enjoy this stroll along the wild side of New
Orleans.
For additional O'Neil De Noux material, go to: www.oneildenoux.com
