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Jacques Dugas New Orleans Mysteries #1
The French Detective
In 1900, the crumbling French Quarter is an enclave of immigrants, primarily Sicilian. Early one July evening, four year old Luigi Bova is lured from in front of his house by the promise of ice-cream by a man who tosses Luigi into the back of a passing wagon. A frantic search ensues but Sicilians are reluctant to call the New Orleans Police Department populated by mostly Irishmen. Detective Jacques Dugas, taking a short cut through the Quarter, comes upon a street full of people looking for the missing boy and takes command of the situation.
An immediate search for the boy fails to locate Luigi or any leads and Det. Dugas begins a long, painstaking investigation among people who had no use for the police, people who speak a different language, people with their own way of dealing with crime. Assaulted from all sides, Dugas assembles a team of detectives, street cops, reluctant-but-sympathetic Italians and a strikingly-pretty woman, part Corsican, part English, who happens to be an expert linguist with a gift of getting Sicilians to talk. They are soon pitted against formidable villains including a crime boss known as il Maiale (the hog) and a terrifying henchman whose skeletal visage and cold black eyes have earned him the nickname il Cadavere (the cadaver).
From the crowded French Quarter, across sprawling turn-of-the-century New Orleans, to the wilds of Algiers across the river, detectives follow false lead after false lead, as bogus ransom notes arrive almost daily, until Dugas finds a street urchin, another little boy who saw who took Luigi. With the blood-feud between Irish and Italians ready to rekindle – ten years earlier the first NOPD chief of police was murdered by the Mafia – with growing unrest in the black community as the south begins to implement the hated Jim Crow Laws – with few allies – it takes an American with a French name to remained focused on one mission. Find Luigi Bova.
Jacques Dugas, the French Detective, is featured in the short story collection NEW ORLEANS PRIME EVIL, 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.
An immediate search for the boy fails to locate Luigi or any leads and Det. Dugas begins a long, painstaking investigation among people who had no use for the police, people who speak a different language, people with their own way of dealing with crime. Assaulted from all sides, Dugas assembles a team of detectives, street cops, reluctant-but-sympathetic Italians and a strikingly-pretty woman, part Corsican, part English, who happens to be an expert linguist with a gift of getting Sicilians to talk. They are soon pitted against formidable villains including a crime boss known as il Maiale (the hog) and a terrifying henchman whose skeletal visage and cold black eyes have earned him the nickname il Cadavere (the cadaver).
From the crowded French Quarter, across sprawling turn-of-the-century New Orleans, to the wilds of Algiers across the river, detectives follow false lead after false lead, as bogus ransom notes arrive almost daily, until Dugas finds a street urchin, another little boy who saw who took Luigi. With the blood-feud between Irish and Italians ready to rekindle – ten years earlier the first NOPD chief of police was murdered by the Mafia – with growing unrest in the black community as the south begins to implement the hated Jim Crow Laws – with few allies – it takes an American with a French name to remained focused on one mission. Find Luigi Bova.
Jacques Dugas, the French Detective, is featured in the short story collection NEW ORLEANS PRIME EVIL, 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.
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First published October 2, 2014
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About the author
O'Neil De Noux
166 books12 followersO'Neil Paul De Noux was born on 29 November 1950 in New Orleans.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 1, 2015
A jambalaya of factors go into a reader’s enjoyment of a crime novel, and this one is definitely a (mostly) flavorful mix. De Noux has selected a time and place ripe for drama. New Orleans is consistently intriguing on many levels, most particularly for its diversity of strong cultures stewing together in the oppressive Louisiana heat. The time period, the turn of the last century, is filled with dramatic possibility, because of the city’s changing demographics and because of the real-life occurrence of the Robert Charles race riots, which De Noux draws into his story.
The challenges to New Orleans Police Detective Jacques Dugas begin when a four-year-old boy is kidnapped from the city’s Vieux Carré, at this point in its history an Italian and Sicilian district. Mostly recent immigrants, the residents have little use for the police and cooperation is scant, even when Dugas has the volunteer translating assistance of glamorous young Evelyn Dominici—Italian-speaking daughter of a Corsican jeweler and an English Lady. The Corsican is a New Orleans resident, but Lady Evelyn’s mother lives in England, ensconced in a drafty castle with her lover.
Dugas and his translator, rapidly falling for each other and flirting outrageously, pursue the many potential leads in the case until the investigation is derailed by the riots. The book is populated with white supremacists, Italian citizens committees, Sicilian mafia, Irish cops, and, always at the fringes, the blacks and the poor. Jambalaya. One delicious aspect of the book is how often Dugas, Evelyn Dominici, and their colleagues must stop to eat. Reading this book is enough to make the reader put on five pounds by literary osmosis.
Yet all is not well-served in this literary endeavor. This is a self-published book, which to me means the author-as-publisher takes on extra responsibilities. While De Noux attempts to absolve himself from any errors via a note saying “If you found a typo or two in the book, please don’t hold it against us. We are a small group of volunteers . . .” There are many, many more than a typo or two. The writer’s role, as John Gardner had it, is to create a fictional dream in which writer and reader are co-conspirators. Keep the dream going, and the reader continues to believe in the story created. Tyops wake you up.
Such lack of attention cannot help but make the reader wonder about the care expended on plot, characterization, and other literary matters. In this book, the plot raced hither and yon so often, I occasionally lost the thread, and it left loose ends (who wrote all those notes?). The character of Evelyn was, to me, unbelievable in her liberated attitudes for a woman of that era and an English Lady, no less. Nor was the attention devoted to the attractiveness of her figure interesting on a sustained basis.
Nevertheless, I actually enjoyed this book on its own terms, as a window into a pivotal time in one of America’s most fascinating cities.
The challenges to New Orleans Police Detective Jacques Dugas begin when a four-year-old boy is kidnapped from the city’s Vieux Carré, at this point in its history an Italian and Sicilian district. Mostly recent immigrants, the residents have little use for the police and cooperation is scant, even when Dugas has the volunteer translating assistance of glamorous young Evelyn Dominici—Italian-speaking daughter of a Corsican jeweler and an English Lady. The Corsican is a New Orleans resident, but Lady Evelyn’s mother lives in England, ensconced in a drafty castle with her lover.
Dugas and his translator, rapidly falling for each other and flirting outrageously, pursue the many potential leads in the case until the investigation is derailed by the riots. The book is populated with white supremacists, Italian citizens committees, Sicilian mafia, Irish cops, and, always at the fringes, the blacks and the poor. Jambalaya. One delicious aspect of the book is how often Dugas, Evelyn Dominici, and their colleagues must stop to eat. Reading this book is enough to make the reader put on five pounds by literary osmosis.
Yet all is not well-served in this literary endeavor. This is a self-published book, which to me means the author-as-publisher takes on extra responsibilities. While De Noux attempts to absolve himself from any errors via a note saying “If you found a typo or two in the book, please don’t hold it against us. We are a small group of volunteers . . .” There are many, many more than a typo or two. The writer’s role, as John Gardner had it, is to create a fictional dream in which writer and reader are co-conspirators. Keep the dream going, and the reader continues to believe in the story created. Tyops wake you up.
Such lack of attention cannot help but make the reader wonder about the care expended on plot, characterization, and other literary matters. In this book, the plot raced hither and yon so often, I occasionally lost the thread, and it left loose ends (who wrote all those notes?). The character of Evelyn was, to me, unbelievable in her liberated attitudes for a woman of that era and an English Lady, no less. Nor was the attention devoted to the attractiveness of her figure interesting on a sustained basis.
Nevertheless, I actually enjoyed this book on its own terms, as a window into a pivotal time in one of America’s most fascinating cities.
May 19, 2018
THE CITY OF MYSTERY...NEW ORLEANS
A great adventure about a great city...New Orleans. The city has always been one of mystery and intrigue. The city is steeped in so many magnificent cultures and this mysterious kidnapping of the young boy and how the citizens of New Orleans reacted. Lots of racial tensions between the Irish, Italians, Sicilian population who didn't trust the police force because it was primarily Irish. As you read you come across derogatory names, which I feel could have cut back, it was hurtful to read them. But we have heard them before. Other than the name calling, the plot and characters are colorful and this adventure is fast moving. Also there's a list of French names and definitions which are interesting...so let's all go get a po boy sandwich with a large glass of sweet iced tea with shaved ice, slice of lemon...nice right..so enjoy.
A great adventure about a great city...New Orleans. The city has always been one of mystery and intrigue. The city is steeped in so many magnificent cultures and this mysterious kidnapping of the young boy and how the citizens of New Orleans reacted. Lots of racial tensions between the Irish, Italians, Sicilian population who didn't trust the police force because it was primarily Irish. As you read you come across derogatory names, which I feel could have cut back, it was hurtful to read them. But we have heard them before. Other than the name calling, the plot and characters are colorful and this adventure is fast moving. Also there's a list of French names and definitions which are interesting...so let's all go get a po boy sandwich with a large glass of sweet iced tea with shaved ice, slice of lemon...nice right..so enjoy.
August 9, 2019
He knows New Orleans
The story pulled me in as I started reading but one of the things that kept me interested was the author’s description of the city. Growing up near there it and being a frequent visitor, many of the places described are familiar to me. At the same time, it was interesting to learn about some of the city’s history I was not aware of. The surprise ending came unexpectedly but I suppose that’s how it must have dawned on Jacques. The reader won’t be disappointed.
The story pulled me in as I started reading but one of the things that kept me interested was the author’s description of the city. Growing up near there it and being a frequent visitor, many of the places described are familiar to me. At the same time, it was interesting to learn about some of the city’s history I was not aware of. The surprise ending came unexpectedly but I suppose that’s how it must have dawned on Jacques. The reader won’t be disappointed.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews