The New Orleans Mysteries series
Set in New Orleans and featuring lesbian PI Willie Rae Flynn, a woman with a past as intriguing as it is dangerous - 'Voodoo Woman' is currently available on Amazon Kindle and as a PB from Lulu and CreateSpace. Click for Amazon UK and for Amazon US. Amazon has the Look Inside function to read an excerpt from the novel.
Both Lulu and CreateSpace versions are exactly the same book except that the Lulu format is larger print on matte paper. CreateSpace is smaller print on glossy paper, and has less pages. Please check to see which vendor best suits your needs.
From Book 1:
Seduction and murder in the city of New Orleans.
Once a killer for hire, Willie Rae Flynn turned her back on this profession and now makes her living as a private investigator in the city where the good times always roll. For Flynn, the need to keep her past secret means that she must
live a solitary existence in which she denies herself anything but the most fleeting contact with other women.
Then a client is made the victim of a brutal ritual murder and Flynn is drawn into the investigation. Finding herself exploring the dark underbelly of Voodoo that few know exist and which demands that the good times be paid for in blood, Flynn is forced, by the actions of a crazed mambo who thinks she can control the old gods through human sacrifice, to enter into a pact with an FBI agent who hunts her, in order to save the life of the woman she loves but is afraid to have a relationship with.
Currently, Devon is busy writing the second Willie Rae Flynn novel, 'The Girl Who Sang The Blues', excerpts from which will be available at a later date.
Both Lulu and CreateSpace versions are exactly the same book except that the Lulu format is larger print on matte paper. CreateSpace is smaller print on glossy paper, and has less pages. Please check to see which vendor best suits your needs.
From Book 1:
Seduction and murder in the city of New Orleans.
Once a killer for hire, Willie Rae Flynn turned her back on this profession and now makes her living as a private investigator in the city where the good times always roll. For Flynn, the need to keep her past secret means that she must
live a solitary existence in which she denies herself anything but the most fleeting contact with other women.
Then a client is made the victim of a brutal ritual murder and Flynn is drawn into the investigation. Finding herself exploring the dark underbelly of Voodoo that few know exist and which demands that the good times be paid for in blood, Flynn is forced, by the actions of a crazed mambo who thinks she can control the old gods through human sacrifice, to enter into a pact with an FBI agent who hunts her, in order to save the life of the woman she loves but is afraid to have a relationship with.
Currently, Devon is busy writing the second Willie Rae Flynn novel, 'The Girl Who Sang The Blues', excerpts from which will be available at a later date.
10 Things About New Orleans
Royal Street
1. When New Orleans was established in 1717, there were just 27 women living there.
2. Vampire rumors have a tendency to cling stubbornly to New Orleans. In 1970, a group of paranormal researchers staking out the notorious Ursuline Covent building to which some of the more lurid rumors have attached, were attacked and killed in the most grisly manner. Their colleagues found them at
dawn with their throats slashed and later autopsies revealed that all the bodily fluids had been drained. Camera equipment used by the researchers revealed their voices excitedly talking about movement in one of the convent windows although the videotape showed no such movement. There were some screams and a scuffle and then silence. The killer or killers have never been found.
3. New Orleans football team the Saints had for so long been unable to win a game that people began to believe the Superdome where they play was cursed. The grounds for this belief stemmed from the Superdome having been constructed on land that was once
a burial ground. However, the burial ground had been deconsecrated and the bones moved to another burial site long before the Saints went marching in. Interestingly, after Hurricane Katrina whe the Superdome served as an emergency shelter for thousands of people, the 'curse' appeared to lift as the Saints suddenly hit a winning streak.
4. The world-famous Mardi Gras is a series of more than 80 public parades occuring between Epiphany ( January 6th ) and Ash
Wednesday ( falling anywhere between February 4th and March 10th ).
5. There are over 40 cemeteries in New Orleans although the most famous is St Louis Cemetery No.1. Amongst its dead denizens is said to be Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau.
6. There were likely more than one Marie Laveau's, probably mother and daughter both bearing the same name. This may account for the myriad sightings of Marie walking around after she was supposed to be dead!
7. The elevation of New Orleans varies from 6.5 ft to 20 ft below sea level.
8. Nearly all of the architecture in the Vieux Carre ( French Quarter ) is actually from the Spanish period of the city, with a notable exception being the Ursuline Convent.
9. New Orleans' most notorious serial killer, dubbed The Axeman, bears certain uncanny resemblances to Jack the Ripper. Like Jack, The Axeman sent taunting notes addressed 'From Hell' to the police and he also was never caught. Where Jack targeted prostitutes, however, The Axeman seemed to have a grudge against Italian butchers! After his initial two kills, he started leaving a bloody ax at the crime scenes, which obviously became his signature. The Axeman's crimes began in 1911 and stopped in 1919, just as abruptly as Jack's killing spree. The Axeman also was somewhat more prolific than Jack, his total victims mounting to twelve dead and five seriously injured. None of those who survived his attacks were able to give police anything close to adequate descriptions, although one female survivor did describe her attacker as 'tall and wearing a black hat', which was also reportedly Jack's headgear of choice!
10. New Orleans has some distinctive cuisine, including the po'boy sandwich. Mythology has it that these gargantuan eats started as hollowed-out loaves of bread which would be filled with anything cheap and edible, such as potatoes and a gravy sauce, that could sustain striking workers, immigrants, or any other 'poor boys'. Also famous in the city are beignets, a sort of round-the-clock
breakfast special. A flat square of dough is flash-fried to golden, puffy perfection and liberally doused with confectioner's sugar, eaten hot and sticky with a strong cafe au lait. Best place for these is the also famous Cafe du Monde.
2. Vampire rumors have a tendency to cling stubbornly to New Orleans. In 1970, a group of paranormal researchers staking out the notorious Ursuline Covent building to which some of the more lurid rumors have attached, were attacked and killed in the most grisly manner. Their colleagues found them at
dawn with their throats slashed and later autopsies revealed that all the bodily fluids had been drained. Camera equipment used by the researchers revealed their voices excitedly talking about movement in one of the convent windows although the videotape showed no such movement. There were some screams and a scuffle and then silence. The killer or killers have never been found.
3. New Orleans football team the Saints had for so long been unable to win a game that people began to believe the Superdome where they play was cursed. The grounds for this belief stemmed from the Superdome having been constructed on land that was once
a burial ground. However, the burial ground had been deconsecrated and the bones moved to another burial site long before the Saints went marching in. Interestingly, after Hurricane Katrina whe the Superdome served as an emergency shelter for thousands of people, the 'curse' appeared to lift as the Saints suddenly hit a winning streak.
4. The world-famous Mardi Gras is a series of more than 80 public parades occuring between Epiphany ( January 6th ) and Ash
Wednesday ( falling anywhere between February 4th and March 10th ).
5. There are over 40 cemeteries in New Orleans although the most famous is St Louis Cemetery No.1. Amongst its dead denizens is said to be Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau.
6. There were likely more than one Marie Laveau's, probably mother and daughter both bearing the same name. This may account for the myriad sightings of Marie walking around after she was supposed to be dead!
7. The elevation of New Orleans varies from 6.5 ft to 20 ft below sea level.
8. Nearly all of the architecture in the Vieux Carre ( French Quarter ) is actually from the Spanish period of the city, with a notable exception being the Ursuline Convent.
9. New Orleans' most notorious serial killer, dubbed The Axeman, bears certain uncanny resemblances to Jack the Ripper. Like Jack, The Axeman sent taunting notes addressed 'From Hell' to the police and he also was never caught. Where Jack targeted prostitutes, however, The Axeman seemed to have a grudge against Italian butchers! After his initial two kills, he started leaving a bloody ax at the crime scenes, which obviously became his signature. The Axeman's crimes began in 1911 and stopped in 1919, just as abruptly as Jack's killing spree. The Axeman also was somewhat more prolific than Jack, his total victims mounting to twelve dead and five seriously injured. None of those who survived his attacks were able to give police anything close to adequate descriptions, although one female survivor did describe her attacker as 'tall and wearing a black hat', which was also reportedly Jack's headgear of choice!
10. New Orleans has some distinctive cuisine, including the po'boy sandwich. Mythology has it that these gargantuan eats started as hollowed-out loaves of bread which would be filled with anything cheap and edible, such as potatoes and a gravy sauce, that could sustain striking workers, immigrants, or any other 'poor boys'. Also famous in the city are beignets, a sort of round-the-clock
breakfast special. A flat square of dough is flash-fried to golden, puffy perfection and liberally doused with confectioner's sugar, eaten hot and sticky with a strong cafe au lait. Best place for these is the also famous Cafe du Monde.
