Salamanders

Pete Murphy was a true original: a highly gifted writer steeped in the tradition of Hemingway, Chandler and Elmore Leonard, but with a voice distinctively his own - caustic, subtle, and with a disturbing and sometimes explosive edge behind its understatement. A Vietnam veteran, until Hurricane Katrina in 2005 Murphy was based in New Orleans. As a result of the hurricane he lost everything apart from his cat Della - including his home, all his possessions and even the manuscript of Salamanders, which fortunately he had previously sent to his editor and publisher. After Katrina he moved to Garland, Texas, where he worked as a carpenter and decorator before creating the old time radio website, otrdepot.com. He died in March 2011. Murphy’s account of his experience of Katrina, together with a number of his short stories, may be found in Katrina, Della and Me - and Other Short Stories.