On a lazy spring evening in 1951, two cases arrive at Private Eye Lucien Caye's office in the New Orleans Lower French Quarter. The first is a murder case already solved by the New Orleans Police Department. The client believes NOPD arrested the wrong man. Yeah. Right. The second case - find who wrote a song recorded by a now defunct record label eleven years ago here in New Orleans, a song that is now a hit. There are royalties. It is slow, plodding work, sifting through slim leads of a murder case full of deception and misdirection as the song from the second case, How Could You Leave Me, haunts Lucien. When a young, alluring, doe-eyed woman with auburn hair steps into Lucien's life, trouble soon follows - gunplay, murder, mayhem, lust, maybe even love as Lucien learns why the song's original title was Hold Me, Babe. This is a classic 1950s private eye novel with good old American sex, violence and humor. A murder mystery featuring a character whose stories have won the The Private Eye Writers of America's prestigious SHAMUS AWARD for BEST PRIVATE EYE SHORT STORY and The Short Mystery Fiction Society's DERRINGER AWARD for BEST NOVELETTE. Lucien Caye novels include New Orleans Rapacious and Enamored and the short story collection New Orleans Confidential. Born in New Orleans, O'Neil De Noux is a prolific American writer of novels and short stories. 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 erotica.
About the Author: Born in New Orleans, O'Neil De Noux is a prolific American writer of novels and short stories. 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 erotica. 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 cover story of the September 2006 Issue of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine). The Shamus Awards are given annually to recognize outstanding achievement in private eye fiction. "The Heart Has Reasons." De Noux is also the 2009 DERRINGER AWARD winner for Best Novelette for "Too Wise." 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" was runner up in the Derringer Award Best Long Story category. In 2010, De Noux made a move to eBooks and print-on-demand books, teaming with other artists in the art co-op Big Kiss Productions and he quickly published a number of books: SLICK TIME, a sexy caper novel, NEW ORLEANS NOCTURNAL and MAFIA APHRODITE, an erotic suspense novel. 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. In 2011, BATTLE KISS was released, a 320,000 word epic of love and war set against the panorama of the Battle of New Orleans, January 8, 1815. In 2012, Mr. De Noux's first private eye was published. ENAMORED, a novel of obsession and murder, is set in 1950 New Orleans and BOURBON STREET is a crime novel set in 1947 New Orleans. Books published in 2013-2016 include USS RELENTLESS, a saga of the US Navy in the Age of Sail, the Lucien Caye mystery NEW ORLEANS RAPACIOUS and the first Jacques Dugas novel, THE FRENCH DETECTIVE, John Raven Beau novels CITY OF SECRETS and Nude in Red, LaStanza novels NEW ORLEANS HOMICIDE, THE BLUE NUDE and THE LONG COLD and the World War II novel DEATH ANGELS. In 2013, O'Neil De Noux was elected Vice-President of the Private Eye Writers of America. De Noux's web site is http: //www.oneildenoux.net