New Orleans Prime Evil: 10 Crime Stories

primeval original, primitive, ancient or resembling the earliest ages in the history of the world, of feelings or actions based on primitive instinct as in raw and elementary primeval forest earliest, first, prehistoric, pristine primeval fear innate, inborn, instinctive, primitive, basic, primordial, intuitive, inherent, basic The prime evil faced by police officers in a city described in a local newspaper in the Nineteenth Century as Hell on Earth - is murder. From the autumn of 1887 through the summer of 1891, New Orleans Police Detective Jacques Dugas investigates the most intricate cases of mayhem and murder - The city's most notorious madame is stabbed to death; a hulking simian killer lurks along the rooftops of the French Quarter; a blood-splattered woman dances around the body of her husband and maniacally laughs, "I did it I did it "; bodies of tortured men are found along fog-shrouded streets; the death of innocence plays out when a visitor on her honeymoon is strangled, a New Orleans beauty is found murdered; a missing woman case turns into a complicated mystery; the Gold Bug of Jean Lafitte draws hidden desires; killers killing killers; the severed hand of a murder victim points to her murderer. Det. Jacques Dugas, the lone French detective on a police force dominated by the Irish at the end of the Nineteenth Century, is called 'the smart one'. Cerebral. A thinker. Yet, you will see he is quick to act with controlled aggression when necessary and persistent enough to remain focused on the case and not get distracted by a pretty woman, petty cops hell bent on revenge, or a case that seems unsolvable, as in "Maria's Hand." He is a quiet, lonesome man, focused on the job and yet - he knows, one day he'll find her. There's a woman out there for him. After all, he's a Frenchman. Two of the short stories in this collection are new, never published before. "A Willing Lad" is a chilling tale while "Worthy of Love" is as sad as the Edgar Allan Poe poem that introduces it. Included in New Orleans Prime Evil are my four stories inspired by the four mysteries written by the man who created the modern detective story, and my literary inspiration - Edgar Allan Poe. His voice resonates through the book. My stories are nothing like Poe's except for my tipping my hat with the titles, a salute if you want to call it that. The inspiration drove me to create Jacques Dugas. I hope you enjoy his exploits.

O’Neil De Noux brief bio Born in New Orleans, O’Neil De Noux is a prolific American writer of novels and short stories. Although much of De Noux’s fiction falls under the mystery genre (character-drive crime fiction primarily), he has published stories in many disciplines including children’s fiction, mainstream fiction, science-fiction, suspense, fantasy, horror, western, literary, religious, romance, humor and erotica. 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 cover story of the September 2006 Issue of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine). The Shamus Award is given annually to 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 (stories between 8,001 and 17,500 words) for ＂Too Wise＂ - another Lucien Caye private eye mystery. The Derringer Awards are given annually 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 Best Long Story category. In 2009, De Noux tapped his history background to pen a 320,000 word historical epic set during The Battle of New Orleans and received an Artist Services Career Advancement Award for 2009-2010 from the Louisiana Division of the Arts for his work on this upcoming book- BATTLE KISS. 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 and published SLICK TIME, a sexy caper novel. 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.＂ Additionally, De Noux began selling previously published and unpublished short stories directly to the public as eBooks via his web site - http: //www.oneildenoux.net Other recent books include MAFIA APHRODITE and JOHN RAVEN BEAU.