New Orleans Hardboiled

A collection of 12 crime fiction stories featuring New Orleans Private Eye Lucien Caye. Come prowl the lonely, sometimes violent streets of America's most exotic city, the city that care forgot with lone wolf private eye Lucien Caye. Unlike most 1940s PI's, Caye rarely drinks, doesn't smoke or wear a hat (it messes up his hair). He's six feet tall with wavy, dark brown hair, a cleft chin, standard-issue Mediterranean brown eyes, a sly smile and a clever mind that often gets him into trouble. Caye lives and works in the lower-class French Quarter of the late 1940s. He has a weakness for women, children and fellow WWII veterans. He makes a living but sometimes works pro-bono. Born in New Orleans of French and Spanish descent, Caye attended Holy Cross High School before working as a copy boy and cub reporter for The New Orleans Item. A stint as a crime reporter drew Caye to law enforcement and he joined the New Orleans Police Department in 1939 where he was a patrol officer until December 7, 1941. He joined the U.S. Army and served in North Africa, Sicily and the subsequent Italian Campaign at Anzio and Salerno. At the Battle of Monte Cassino, Caye met and befriended journalist Ernie Pyle during the bitter stalemate. Leading an assault on the infamous monastery, Caye was seriously wounded by a German sniper and sent home with a Purple Heart Medal and Silver Star for bravery. After the war, he returned to NOPD, working the French Quarter beat until deciding he preferred working along and set up in an apartment building at the corner of Barracks and Dauphine Streets, not far from the fictional residence of Tennessee Williams' Stanley Kowalski. Living upstairs, Caye's office faces Barracks Street and the small Cabrini Park Playground across the narrow street where he usually parks his pre-way 1940 two-door DeSoto coach. Murder is often the name of the game as Lucien Caye often aids pretty women in need of help, in more ways than one. Unfortunately, the truth is often ugly, often dangerous and usually resides in the lonliest part of town. The stories in his collection have appeared in top mystery magazines like Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, and The Strand Mystery Magazine, as well as a number of mystery anthologies. "Sac-a-Lait Man" was awarded the 2020 Private Eye Writers of America's prestigious SHAMUS AWARD for BEST PRIVATE EYE SHORT STORY. The SHAMUS is given annually to recognize outstanding achievement in private eye fiction. "A Dreamboat Gambol" was a finalist for the 2021 SHAMUS AWARD for BEST PRIVATE EYE SHORT STORY. "Effect on Men" was a finalist for the DERRINGER AWARD for BEST LONG STORY. The DERRINGER awards are given annually by the Short Mystery Fiction Society to recognize excellence in short mystery fiction. Set between 1947 and 1950, these stories sometimes reflect the political incorrectness of that era. African-Americans were referred to as Colored or Negroes (and worse) and women were often seen as dames and broads. Some of the stories are properly hardboiled while others are gentle enough for magazines. Hope you enjoy this stroll along the wild side of New Orleans. For additional O'Neil De Noux material, go to: www.oneildenoux.com