Greg Herren is a New Orleans-based author and editor. Former editor of Lambda Book Report, he is also a co-founder of the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival, which takes place in New Orleans every May. He is the author of ten novels, including the Lambda Literary Award winning Murder in the Rue Chartres, called by the New Orleans Times-Picayune “the most honest depiction of life in post-Katrina New Orleans published thus far.” He co-edited Love, Bourbon Street: Reflections on New Orleans, which also won the Lambda Literary Award. He has published over fifty short stories in markets as varied as Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine to the critically acclaimed anthology New Orleans Noir to various websites, literary magazines, and anthologies. His erotica anthology FRATSEX is the all time best selling title for Insightoutbooks. Under his pseudonym Todd Gregory, he published the bestselling erotic novel Every Frat Boy Wants It and the erotic anthologies His Underwear and Rough Trade (to be released by Bold Strokes Books in 2009).
A long-time resident of New Orleans, Greg was a fitness columnist and book reviewer for Window Media for over four years, publishing in the LGBT newspapers IMPACT News, Southern Voice, and Houston Voice. He served a term on the Board of Directors for the National Stonewall Democrats, and served on the founding committee of the Louisiana Stonewall Democrats. He is currently employed as a public health researcher for the NO/AIDS Task Force.
I would like to start by saying thank you for allowing me to read this early. However I do not think this is for me.
I originally loved the concept of the story and thought this is going to be a great read. However I felt alot of the time the book trailed of with items that weren't relevant to the storyline. The book itself has alot of descriptive text about alot of things. Which I found to be very overwhelming when I just wanted to follow clues to find a murderer. I can understand the long backstory parts to mention key character however it did become very repetitive in some parts. Just like the descriptions of rooms which came up alot, I did find myself skimming it. However I did enjoy the description for the layout of the grounds and the house. As this did allow me to understand where everyone was and how the area connected together. It was very fact-filled with previous hurricanes and all the damaged they caused. Which matched well with the theme of the book. Sadly for me this book just lacked the storyline I wanted. It seemed to go in different directions and it's own other story in a way. I felt the main storyline was only remembered in certain parts and then all squashed in at the very end. Sadly it just wasn't the read I was hoping it to be and just found it to be lacking a storyline.
But hopefully other people will enjoy it and find it more to their taste.
The 10th Scotty Bradley Mysteries takes place right before and during Hurricane Hester in Scotty's home New Orleans. This time we get a lot of back story on Scottie's Diderot side of the family. There's deep reflection on slavery and making fortunes while ignoring the health of the community you're polluting. There's still a murder - no spoilers here though. You'll have to read Hurricane Season Hustle - it's a real page turner. Always feels like I'm catching up with old friends when I read another Scotty Bradley Mysteries.
Many thanks to Bold Strokes Books and Netgalley for the digital ARC (Advanced Reader Copy).