The French Detective

orn in New Orleans, O’Neil De Noux was educated at Archbishop Rummel High School before moving on to Loyola University and securing a Bachelor of Science degree in European History at Troy University in Alabama. He is a US Army veteran and worked as an FBI Clerk. With the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, Mr. De Noux served in the Intelligence Division, the Regional Organized Crime Center and as a road deputy. Promoted to homicide detective, Mr. De Noux earned seven commendations before being named Homicide Detective of the Year. He is a graduate of the Southern Police Institute of the University of Louisville. A lucrative position as chief investigator with a New Orleans Private Investigative Firm drew Mr. De Noux into private practice for six years before he returned to law enforcement with the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office as a detective. When his house was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina, Mr. De Noux relocated to the northshore of Lake Pontchartrain for his final stint in law enforcement as a police investigator at Southeastern Louisiana University. Much of Mr. De Noux’s writing is character-driven crime fiction, although he has been published in many disciplines including historical fiction, children’s fiction, mainstream fiction, science-fiction, suspense, fantasy, horror, western, literary, religious, romance, humor and erotica. O’Neil De Noux’s writing has won a number of national awards including the UNITED KINGDOM SHORT STORY PRIZE, the SHAMUS AWARD (given annually by the Private Eye Writers of America to recognize outstanding achievement in private eye fiction), the DERRINGER AWARD (given annually by the Short Mystery Fiction Society to recognize excellence in short mystery fiction) and POLICE BOOK of the YEAR (awarded by Police Writers.com). Two of his stories have been featured in the BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES annual anthology. In 2012, O’Neil De Noux received an Artist Services Career Advancement Award from the Louisiana Division of the Arts for Battle Kiss, a 320,000 word epic of love and war set against the panorama of the Battle of New Orleans. In 2013, USS Relentless was published, a saga of the US Navy in the Age of Sail chronicling the exploits of a young American naval officer from the Barbary War in 1803 through the War of 1812. Mr. De Noux’s latest books are private eye novels - THE BLUE NUDE and NEW ORLEANS RAPACIOUS.