Death on Duval St.: A Perry Savant Novel

Death on Duval Street is a murder mystery involving Fantasyfest, a drag queen, a tent revival, a gay NYPD detective, a novelist, and the uniqueness of Key West, Florida. Or, ＂The Bone Collector＂ meets ＂In the Garden of Good and Evil.＂Jay Morrison, a novelist, helps Perry Savant, a retired, gay, New York City detective, in order to solve the murder of a popular, local female impersonator during the FantasyFest parade on Halloween. With an evangelical tent revival in town, the police, and most of the gay community, determine that what they have on their hands is an obvious hate crime ... or is it? The police department in Key West, is not equipped to solve homicides, especially one that generates as much publicity as the murder of cross-dresser and female impersonator Brian Silver. Police chief Fatima Sax recognizes her shortcomings and asks Perry Savant, a retired NYPD chief of detectives, to help her in her investigation of this murder.Unfortunately, Perry is struggling with a serious case of HIV/AIDS. So he enlists the help of Jay Morrison, a writer of historical novels, to help him with the leg work necessary in any investigation. And he recognizes that Jay’s research skills could be invaluable to this particular crime investigation. The problem these two men face is that the newspapers from Key West to Jacksonville are all calling the murder a hate crime; and they are suggested it was executed by one of the militant Christians in town for a major tent revival. The clues lead to the revival evangelist who has a past connection to the murdered man. The gay community becomes disenchanted with the lack of progress by the police and cause a riot leading to the destruction of the revivalist’s tent. But the investigation uncovers a seedy relationship that has gone bad. In the climactic conclusion the murderer is discovered to be someone who is not who (or what) everyone else thought.

Herb Sennett began writing novels at the age of sixty-five following a career in education and Christian ministry. Herb has been a high school teacher, a Baptist minister, a college professor, an army reserve officer and now a writer. Actually, he’s not sure what he wants to do when he grows up; but he’s having fun doing lots of different things. Herb holds several college and university degrees, including the Ph.D. from LSU; but his heart has always been in the nitty-gritty of teaching and helping people. He has done volunteer work with various charities, acted as a counselor and mentor to his students, and served for twenty-one years as a chaplain in the army reserves. As if that wasn’t enough for one career, Herb has published two academic books in the area of Christian drama and theatre history. He has written dozens of articles for trade and academic journals and currently hosts a blog and several websites. Never busy enough, at the age of sixty he started Creative Illusions Films, a West Palm Beach production company, which produced a drama about two veterans dealing with the results of their war experiences in Vietnam titled A VETERAN AFFAIR. Starring Michael Winslow of ＂Police Academy＂ fame, the film uses the metaphor of a chess game to demonstrate how each man faces his own frustrations brought on by the ravages of combat, often referred to as PTSD. The film garnered Herb a nomination for best new director at the Christian Film Festival in U.K. in 2010. Herb’s company has also produced the documentary, COMING HOME, about his own experiences as an army infantry officer in Vietnam. That movie won critical acclaim at nearly a dozen film festivals across the country and was named best movie at the Re-Birth Fine Arts Festival in Jacksonville, Florida. Herb Sennett has produced and/or directed over thirty stage plays in various venues throughout the Southeastern United States. He also spent nearly forty years as a teacher in high school and college as well as a chaplain in the army reserves retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2004. Now in his seventies, Herb is more active than ever with three novels completed (awaiting final publication), four novels currently in development (that means he’s writing them) and teaching as much as ever. Chances are he’ll never retire but will keep on writing for years to come. For more information about Herb, click here.