Bourbon Street — O'Neil De Noux

Desiree Blanc wants to be a gun-moll. Born into poverty in rural northern Mississippi, Dorothy Jellnick grew into an ash-blonde beauty. Everyone told her to go to Hollywood, show the movie people a real southern belle. She made it as far as Bourbon Street, New Orleans, where she became Desiree Blanc, a white hot stripper at Hotsy Jazz Club. Determined to never be poor again, Desiree discovers a short cut to big money �" crime. It is the summer of 1947. As the story opens, Desiree and her hoodlum boyfriend rob a tourist from Kansas, leaving the man in his skivvies on a rural highway just outside New Orleans. More crimes and more money follows. The ash-blond beauty surrenders to avarice �" the unreasonably strong desire to obtain and keep money �" in a dangerous and deadly game. BOURBON STREET is a classic noir mystery with a femme fatale, arrogant criminals, La Cosa Nostra mobsters and an army veteran wounded at The Battle of the Bulge whose love for Desiree is her only chance. BOURBON STREET is a full-length novel of 64,700 words, a taught crime drama penned by an internationally-published New Orleans Writer. Much of De Noux's writing is character-driven crime fiction, although he has written in many disciplines including historical fiction, children's fiction, mainstream fiction, science-fiction, suspense, fantasy, horror, western, literary, religious, romance, humor and er*tica. At the World Mystery Convention in 2007, The Private Eye Writers of America awarded its prestigious SHAMUS AWARD for Best Short Story to “The Heart Has Reasons” by O'Neil De Noux. The Shamus Award is given annually recognize outstanding achievement in private eye fiction. “The Heart Has Reasons” features De Noux's private eye Lucien Caye. De Noux is also the 2009 DERRINGER AWARD winner for Best Novelette for “Too Wise” �" another Lucien Caye private eye mystery. The Derringer Awards are given annually by the Short Mystery Fiction Society to recognize excellence in the short mystery fiction form. Another De Noux story, “The Bonnie and Clyde Caper” featuring New Orleans Police Homicide Detective John Raven Beau was runner up in the Derringer Award Best Long Story category. Recognizing the future of publishing, De Noux made a move to eBooks and print-on-demand books in 2010, teaming with other artists in the art co-op Big Kiss Productions. Slick Time, a sexy caper novel, was published by Big Kiss Productions via amazon.com. New Orleans Nocturnal is a collection of nine crime stories featuring John Raven Beau. Big Kiss Productions released the second edition of New Orleans Confidential, adding the two award-winning private-eye stories, “The Heart Has Reasons” and “Too Wise.” In March 2011, the novel JOHN RAVEN BEAU was published by Big Kiss Productions, which was named 2011 POLICE BOOK OF THE YEAR by Police-Writers.com, a group that boasts of 1153 state and local law enforcement officials from 485 state and local law enforcement agencies who have written 2504 police books. A hyper-realistic crime story, JOHN RAVEN BEAU provides an intimate look into the beleaguered NOPD Homicide Division, a story that begins in the French Quarter and ends in a swamp, all within the city limits of America's eternal city, a city that cannot be destroyed �" New Orleans. Also in 2011, the short story collection NEW ORLEANS PRIME EVIL was published. In 2012, De Noux published BATTLE KISS a 320,000 word epic of love and war set against the panorama of the Battle of New Orleans, January 8, 1815. So timely is the book, released as the bicentennial of the War of 1812 arrives, Mr. De Noux received an Artist Services Career Advancement Award from the Louisiana Division of the Arts for his work on BATTLE KISS. Also in 2012, Mr. De Noux's first private eye was published. ENAMORED, a novel of obsession and murder, is set in 1950 New Orleans. In 2012, O'Neil De Noux was elected Vice-President of the Private Eye Writers of America. His web page is http://www.oneildenoux.net