Chasing the Devil's Tail

Storyville #1

by David Fulmer

Storyville, New Orleans, 1907. Storyville, New Orleans. Along these scarlet streets, two thousand “sporting women” service gentlemen and rounders in grand mansions and filthy dime-a-trick cribs. The rye whiskey flows like a brown river and morphine and cocaine are sold over the counter. Meanwhile, the first crazy notes of the music they call jass are blasting out of the saloons and dance halls.

Creole detective Valentin St. Cyr pursues a killer among the hustlers, pimps,
fancy men, madams, whores, thieves who swarm the twenty blocks after the sun goes down. With a fascinating cast of characters that includes Tom Anderson,
“The King of Storyville,” the lovely one-time “dove” Justine, the famed madam
Lulu White, and the lunatic jazz pioneer Buddy Bolden, Valentin polices a miasma of corruption and sin.

The Shamus Award winning novel melds history and fiction in a tale of mayhem, madness, and murder in the only legally-sanctioned red light district in American history.

— Best First Novel - 2002 Shamus Awards
— Best of 2003 List - Borders Books
— Best New Series - Booklist
— Nominee - 2002 LA Times Book Prize
— Nominee - 2002 Barry Award
— Nominee - 2005 Falcon Award

CCB is pleased to re-publish the Valentin St. Cyr mystery series in it's entirety and to present the next two new novels in this meticulously researched and widely praised series.

"This atmospheric, accomplished novel brings to vivid, shocking life the mansions of vice with their 'sporting girls' and their madams and, above all,
the tragic figure of King Bolden.”
— The Telegraph (U.K)

"St. Cyr takes his place alongside Harry Bosch and Dave Robicheaux: gripping, visceral, and above all, human.”
— The Critical Mystery Tour

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Thriller, Audiobook, Historical Mystery

259 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2001

About the author

David Fulmer has been a writer and producer for over twenty-five years.

Series:
* Valentin St. Cyr Mystery
* Eddie Cero Mystery

Reviews

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chasing the Devil's Tail is an historical mystery set in the Storyville era of New Orleans, when prostitution was legal in a specific section of the city and seedy stuff was happening in it. The story revolves around Valentin St. Cyr, a creole detective who can pass as white, thus giving him access to halls of power and dens of inequity. He investigates several murders in brothels, each victim a prostitute connected to his friend, the early jazz (jass) pioneer, Buddy Bolden. It's an atmospheric novel with solid characterization and a decent (but not great) mystery. Some additional thoughts:

* The historical research in the novel is really solid, and it shows. The details of the storyville era leap off the page, becoming quite vivid. Fulmer does a great job integrating his fictional people in with the numerous real people the novel characterizes.
* The best sequences describe the music of King Bolden and his band. Bolden is credited as one of the originators of jazz, playing his coronet with a frantic style that attracted people from all walks of life. Fulmer brings these scenes to life with a sure hand for detail and the action of the music.
* The novel's treatment of the prostitutes works really well. It's frank about the difficult lives they lead and the challenges they encounter, but it doesn't caricature them. This book reminds me of Sin in the Second City, which also seeks to make plain the harsh realities of the prostitute's life without losing sight of their humanity. As one person in my reading group put it, this book reminds us that "whores are people too."
* The weakest part of the novel is the mystery. It really serves as a vehicle for the atmosphere and the excellent setting, but it doesn't shine as an example of the genre. That said, I didn't mind at all that the mystery doesn't drive the story very strongly.
* My mystery reading group got a chance to do a phone conference with Fulmer after we'd discussed the novel for about an hour. It was interesting to hear how much the history drove the novel (quite a bit) and to hear about his writing and plotting processes.
* The vagaries of the publishing industry were interesting as well. He'd originally planned to do a series of novels about the emergence of jazz, following the scene from city to city through the eras. Alas, the publisher was much more interested in seeing additional novels in this setting than in seeing the other settings emerge. The story about the title is pretty funny too -- the publisher wanted a different title than Red Light, which was the original, so Fulmer and his agent came up with this one. And then he worked it into the book to credit Jelly Roll Morton with the phrase. He phrased the epigraph to say "credited to Jelly Roll Morton" because he'd made it up. He later learned that some historians of jazz were tearing their hair out to find the source of that quote. Ha ha.

Worth a read, for sure.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Starting out in near jazz notes, it’s New Orleans in the late 1800’s to earliest 1900’s. A section called Storyville, where mansions and shacks house the “sporting girls” that cater to all walks of life, given the right house. The sweltered living exudes with each word as we walk the streets with Creole PI Valentin St. Cyr as he follows the trail of one dead prostitute after another, trying to catch the scurve procuring them, each laid to rest with a single black rose within their reach.

St. Cyr is respected in the darkness, barely tolerated by the badge and a comrade in the lively jaunts that flavor the core of New Orleans. An ex copper himself, he knows what needs to be known and what shouldn’t be.

The initial Kerouacian style aside, once past it, this gets to some serious writing. The characters are given life and you easily visualize each, as well as their settings. This is gritty New Orleans, and we’re in the grittiest of it. As the killings continue, St. Cyr continues his way to find them, even down to voodoo enclaves, picking every tidbit apart until it’s either toss or keep. But what of the derby-toting shadow? The secret-holding cop? The priest with a confession to expel before he expires? What of King Bolden and his tranced-out horn playing? The girls talk. They see, they listen, they choose who hears.

There are not a lot of hints thrown out, so you are as much on the case as St. Cyr, realizing as he does. There are many surprises, the biggest being the killer, but all are plausible and fit well in this full-bodied story. This book has been on my TBR pile for 18 years. It was waiting for the perfect time. I’m glad it was now.

[Jay Cardam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not my favorite but I do enjoy Fulmer's St. Cyr Mysteries and Chasing the Devil's Tail is the initial introduction to the characters Valentin, Justine, Tom Anderson, Bean Soup, King Boland, Freddie Kepperd, and various sporting girls and madams of the famed Storyville... some real, some total fiction. He mixes them beautifully (Watch for the brief appearance of young Louis).

I love historic New Orleans and Mr Fulmer recreates a NO of the 1910's with dexterity and has a special feel for both the blossoming of Jazz (then still called Jass) and the characters of Storyville. It is without a doubt a darker side of NO but deftly handled and with obvious care and concern for his characters.

The passages on King Boland playing on his horn will stick with you. I can't think of another instance where someone has caught the emotional upheaval of actually playing Jazz.

[Korynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite the huge amount of research done to carefully enmesh so much time specific historical detail of not only real people and events but also place into the story, I found the mystery and, more so the detective, to be lacking skill. The basis of the mystery is not unfamiliar, someone is killing prostitutes. But the detective St. Cyr goes about investigating in the damndest ways. He lays around at home thinking. He goes and has sex with his girlfriend. He denies over and over again that the murderer could be his friend King Bolden but never does he take pains to back it with a shred of evidence, or does he ever follow King Bolden, or does he do really anything than wander around at random asking random questions of random people (local color I suppose to add to the book's level of detail). There is no "investigation." He never seems to follow up on a hunch and in the end, waaaay too late, he pulls the solution fully fledged out of nowhere. We, the readers, are never given any clues or any real suspects or any motives that would hint to such a left field kind of conclusion. We are as lost as the detective and not very interested in the endless thankless process. So, give us as much detail in our mystery and in the elaborate historical environment and maybe I'd enjoy reading it.

[Redsteve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid mystery combined with excellent history (Storyville, 1907). Seamlessly integrates real (Tom Anderson, Buddy Bolden, E J Bellocq, Jellyroll Morton, Lulu White, "Countess" Willie V. Piazza - and possibly a young Louis Armstrong) and fictional characters. The author does not pull any punches when it comes to race and gender in early 20th Century Louisiana. If I had to choose, I'd say that this is a historical novel first and a murder mystery second.

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

The real life characters and history of New Orleans woven into the story is great stuff. For me the rest of the story elements didn't come together. It was a rich gumbo, but he burnt the roux.

[Devon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't really stop to think that I read this book directly after reading a book involving Jack the Ripper. Let's hope the next book I read doesn't involve the killing of prostitutes.

This book was...interesting. I think I must have initially bought it not as a mystery novel but as a historical fiction novel. I tend to be weird about mysteries, wary unless I know I'm going to like it (see: Sherlock Holmes). The detail and adherence to period lingo and setting is rich, which makes this novel really pop. The author clearly has done his research!

The book was GOOD, but for some reason it just didn't STICK with me. I was surprised to find there were more books following this, marking it as a series, and I thought about adding them to my ever-growing Amazon wishlist before deciding against it.

It wasn't because the writing was bad; no, the writing was very nice, very fluid. I suppose I was just a little put-off by the mystery element of it. They make it seem so concrete that Buddy is the one who did it, but then Valentin is so stridently opposed to the idea and so certain he couldn't have done it that the reader is left to go "Oh, well, it's not him so WHO?" I don't know. Maybe I'm used to mystery novels having more than one suspect, but it seemed like this story kept doing a tug-of-war with everyone saying "IT HAS TO BE BUDDY" and Valentin going "NO, IT'S DEFINITELY NOT BUDDY" without providing any other suspects until the absolute end of the book.

I'm used to twist endings in mysteries where the murderer is someone no one suspects; that seems to be the basis for nearly EVERY mystery novel (and I don't think I've ever had a greater shock than when reading "The Moonstone" by Wilkie Collins. Good Lord, I'm pretty sure I gasped and had to set the book aside with THAT one). But this one just was off to me, and I don't know why. Good twist, but then I suppose by that time anyone would have been a shock as the only person even fingered the entire time was Buddy. I even glanced at the last page when there was thirty pages or so left like "if it's not Buddy then who is it? Please tell me the mystery's going to be solved!"

At any rate, it was a good story. I think it's a better HISTORICAL FICTION piece (albeit with some real-life people playing many main characters) than it is a MYSTERY piece.

[J.R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A killer is stalking the Sporting Women of Storyville in the Spring of 1907, and the only clue left behind at each murder is a single black rose.
Storyville, the "special district" set aside in New Orleans for legalized prostitution by ordinance in 1897, is the domain of politically powerful Tom Anderson, whose influence stretches far beyond the city limits. At first, Anderson isn't concerned. But, as the murders increase, he wants it fixed before it becomes a bigger threat to business in the district.
Anderson puts the job in the capable hands of his employee, Creole detective Valentin St. Cyr. As a Creole of Color, St. Cyr already faces obstacles as the investigation will require him to violate the strict caste system of the time. He also must deal with Police Lieutenant J. Picot, who resents his interference in the case and does all he can to block the detective's access to crime scenes.
But St. Cyr is a man of intelligence and experience and he walks the mean streets armed with a pearl-handled Iver Johnson revolver, a whalebone sap in his back pocket, and a stiletto in a sheath at his ankle.
It isn't long before suspicion focuses on Buddy Bolden, a key figure in the development of a radical new style of music called "jass." Buddy and St. Cyr were boyhood friends and the detective finds it difficult to believe the musician capable of the murders, though Bolden is determined to have been at or near the scene of each crime.
As he gets closer to the killer, St. Cyr finds his job in jeopardy and danger creeps closer to the woman he loves.
I thoroughly enjoyed this suspenseful historical mystery. Fulmer's lyrical and evocative prose puts the reader on those humid streets with St. Cyr. It's a haunting story with a host of colorful characters, plenty of twists and turns as well as a bit of musical history.
Fulmer makes good use of a number of historical figures, including Anderson, Bolden (sadly, his career ended with his admission to a mental institution), Jelly Roll Morton, and others.
This is the first in the St. Cyr mystery series, which now comprises seven novels. More are on my reading list.

[Mindy Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first I thought this book was going to be a bit slow, but then again, I was not in rabid reading mode. I was starting to come out of my reading dry spell, but I wasn't completely out. The author takes a good time to set the scene and introduce the characters. This brings the first of the Valentin St. Cyr series, so I imagine it won't take so long in the subsequent novels.
I found this book very well-written, and very entertaining. It really allowed me to visualize the scenes and the characters. There were several times when the author almost took a sidebar to provide an especially vivid, quiet scene. I really appreciated these, as I do this in my own life. I was especially touched by the quiet scene with Buddy Bolden toward the end of the novel when he was alone while the two men with him went swimming in the creek. Little things like that tell me that the author is truly connected with his characters.
I'm really looking forward to reading the second novel. I think St. Cyr is a standup guy, and I am interested in his life.

[Ella O.N. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a wonderful glimpse into the seamiest side of early-1900s New Orleans. The racial hierarchy was rigid, but everything else was loose, and debauchery, above all else, was king. The red-light district's madams function with autonomy, the 'soiled doves' advertise their wares in the windows for the endless stream of patrons disgorged by the docks, the city, and the rest of the state. Men carry braces of pistols and packets of cocaine as casually as someone today might carry a water bottle, and women dance naked on bar tables while the whine of that new music sensation-jazz- reverberates all throughout the streets.

And in the midst of this madness is Valentin St. Cyr, a white-passing detective who investigates the mysterious murders of several prostitutes in the city. He has a tragic past of his own. His mixed-race mother married his Sicilian father who was lynched after some Italian gang members got off in court. However, the execution of this backstory did feel a bit like mediocre. The characterization wasn't nimble enough to connect that backstory to his experiences as a detective (aside from a few surface-level sentences talking about his complexion or being white-passing).

I also don't think the discovery of the real murderer was done well at all. There was absolutely no foreshadowing. Personally, when the reveal was made, I didn't feel like i could go back to earlier pages and say, 'Ah, now it all makes sense!' The author failed to drop the proverbial crumbs along the path to the witch's house (bad Hansel and Gretel reference, but whatever).

That said, the writing was immersive, the people were interesting, and the whiskey was overflowing.

[Laura Hoffman Brauman · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Chasing the Devil's Tail is a historical mystery, set in Storyville, New Orleans near the turn of the century. Valentine St Cyr works for the "King of Storyville", investigating when necessary, enforcing if directed. When someone starts to murder women who work in the brothels, St Cyr is directed to find out who is responsible. As the trail starts to lead to Buddy Bolden, his childhood friend (and often said to be the founder of jazz), St Cyr needs to decide what he will do next. I appreciated the atmosphere of the book and the way so many real people from history are wrapped up in the plot of this mystery. It's definitely a time period I want to read more about - which is why Empire of Sin will be one of my next reads.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must clarify. I listened to the audiobook narrated by actor Dion Graham. Dion did an absolutely amazing job at bringing this book to life. His interpretation and verbal inflections with the characters kept me glued. I must say if it wasn’t for this narrator and it being an audiobook I may have been off put by some of the wording and put a paper book down. So I’ll say this book is a very good detective novel. I definitely give kudos to Mr Fulmer for writing this novel and kudos for whomever chose Dion Graham to narrate In my opinion, I only recommend the audiobook.

[Kalisa Hyman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Walked into an independent book store on the south shore and asked the guy to sell me a southern novel. This is what he gave me. Takes place in Storyville (the red-light district of turn-of-the-century New Orleans) in 1907. Murdered prostitutes, crooked politicians and the birth of Jazz (jass) in the juke joints. Pretty much the same as New Orleans today tbh. A great book for anyone who’s interested in the history of New Orleans.

[SherrieB · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book while in New Orleans because it was recommended by an employee in a book store as being a good historical fiction book about New Orleans. It was excellent! Having just been in New Orleans, I could envision a lot of the places in the book. The novel is set in Storyville, a notorious red-light district that flourished around the turn of the century. A major bonus of the book is that most of the characters were actual people who lived in New Orleans during that era. Murder, jazz, soiled doves, racial issues, this book has it all. A great read! I'm putting David Fulmer's other books on my to-read list.

[Ronald Wilcox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in the early twentieth century in New Orleans, this mystery introduces a private investigator, Valentin St Cyr, as he investigates a series of murders of prostitutes in the Storyville area of town. At the scene of each murder is left a black rose. St Cyr is concerned as the evidence points to a long-term friend of his from childhood. Good introduction to life at the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries with a likable protagonist detective.

[Charlayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have just found a new favorite series. I love the history of New Orleans and Storyville, having researched it for my own book. I started reading Chasing the Devil's Tail out of curiosity about how the history would be handled and I wasn't disappointed.

The history of Storyville, from 1897-1917 was one of prostitutes, madams in big mansion brothels running 40+ women down to the crib rooms that were essentially a bed, a washstand and a door where the poorer prostitutes worked. It was the home of Jazz, of Jelly Roll Morton, Tony Jackson, and a young Louis Armstrong.

And a trumpet player named Charles Buddy Bolden.

The main character is a man named Valentin St. Cyr, a Creole former police officer who works as a private detective for the king of Storyville, Tom Anderson. Prostitutes start dying in the district and the main tie, other than their job, is a black rose. Rumor has it that Buddy Bolden, King Buddy is the culprit, he was seen with each of the women before their deaths. But St. Cyr doesn't believe the rumors and he's determined to see his childhood friend exonerated with the discover of the real killer.

The atmosphere of the book is pure New Orleans. The streets, the whiskey, the small-town feel to a city made up of whites, blacks, Creoles, and Italians who made up the city at the turn of the 20th Century. The history is spot on, the stories of the mansion houses come alive. I had fun reading about the area, the streets that I've walked myself and know about as well as anyone. Storyville is long gone, only 3 buildings remain of the busiest tenderloin district in the nation at the time. The rest, like the people who lived there, has dissolved into dusty books, a few old pictures (Fulmer even brings in references to the photography of E.J. Belocq, who photographed the prostitutes of Storyville), and there is little else to remember a time when whiskey, jazz, and women all served to be the backdrop for novels written over a hundred years later.

If the history of New Orleans fascinates you, you'll find it well done in this book. If you love Jazz, you'll find the hidden gems of the beginnings of that music here as well, including the fictionalized downfall of King Buddy Bolden.

Pick this one up, you may just find a new series to love as well.

[Patty · Rating 2 out of 5]

A murder mystery set in 1907, New Orleans – specifically Storyville, the neighborhood where prostitution was legal for twenty years and jazz is said to have been born, as the musicians working in the front rooms of brothel experimented with new styles. The fictional characters cross paths with real historical figures, the most-well known of which are probably E. J. Bellocq (a photographer of the Storyville sex workers, including this famous shot) and Buddy Bolden (sometimes called the "father of jazz"; certainly at least a hugely influential figure in the early days, though no recordings of him exist).

Valentin St. Cyr is a former policeman, current bouncer and general factotum in Storyville, and also a light-skinned black man passing for white. When several sex workers are murdered, the deaths linked by a black rose left beside each victim, St Cyr is given the job of stopping the murderer before the negative publicity effects Storyville's profits. Every clue seems to point to Buddy Bolden, but St Cyr can't believe his childhood friend would commit such violence.

The setting and historical research are well done, but I just didn't enjoy this book. St Cyr is too much the stereotypical tough-guy/cynical noir detective to be an interesting or sympathetic character. He even has the hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold girlfriend and precocious street-rat sidekick that are somehow obligatory in every bad mystery novel. The writing around race (a necessarily hugely important feature in any book with this setting) felt a bit uncomfortable to me, though not in a way where I could put my finger on what exactly bothered me about it. The style in general was plodding and shallow, a half-assed imitation of hardboiled. I did like the eventual solution to the mystery, except that 95% of the book has absolutely no hints or even appearances of the character in question.

Chasing the Devil’s Tail is the first in a series, and I'd be uninterested in the sequels, except... I already bought one of them. Whoops. (It was cheap in a second-hand store!) So I suppose I'll be giving Fulmer a second chance.

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Creole detective Valentin St. Cyr is investigating a series of murders of prostitutes in the red-light district of Storyville, New Orleans, in 1907. The author introduces many real-life historical figures into the novel including Buddy Bolden, one of the early jazz innovators. There is a great deal of historical detail about New Orleans at the time of the birth of jazz. I learned a great deal about the racial relations at the time; white, blacks, and levels of mixed-race people. Life was very difficult for non-whites and their lives were very restricted. St. Cyr is a likable man whose personal feelings interfere with his ability to solve a crime that seems to involve a good friend of his. I did enjoy the mystery aspect of the book and even the history lesson, but there was a great deal of violence in the everyday life of people and grimy depiction of life in early New Orleans was depressing.

[Kathie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chasing the Devil's Tail spins an interesting story of murder set in 1907 New Orleans among the whore-houses of Storyville and the music clubs and bars of the French Quarter. The book is very effective at getting the history and atmosphere of time right. The inclusion of real people, like Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton and Ernest Bellocq, gives it a very real feel.

However, the plot is not as well conceived. St. Cyr wanders mostly aimlessly throughout the story, only unravelling any of the truth of the black rose murders in a quick summary near the end. The actual killers are barely mentioned in the story until the final chapter.

[I inadvertently read the second Storyville book, Jass, before this one, which repeatedly gave me a sense of deja vu reading this one. I kept wondering if I had already read it. The two stories are a bit too much alike.]

[Ted · Rating 5 out of 5]

i won this on a morning radio show in atlanta (wrfg), and i got hooked on detective st cyr. i immediately read jas, rampart street, lost river, and iron angel, the books that continue the story of st cyr.
i have always loved new orleans, but i only pretended to know anything about storyville. i was telling a neighbor about this fulmer's series, and the next thing you know she loaned me al rose's "storyville, new orleans", i history of the red light district. it was interesting to verify that so many of the madams, musicians, artists, and politicians are historical figures from the detective novels are real, accurately portrayed people.

[Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's a decent mystery set in the red light district in New Orleans in 1900. Not much historical stuff here just how things worked in the part of New Orleans where this book took place called Storyville. Ugh. Not a good place to be especially for a woman. Five prostitutes or sporting girls as they were known are murdered and the book tells their stories as well as those of a local investigator and the intended scapegoat. Kept me interested and a nice little twist at the end. Recommended for mystery fans and especially if you're familiar with New Orleans. Lots of local references.

[Gary Street · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chasing the Devils Tail is a very interesting account of New Orleans in the early 2oth century. From a historical point of view it is fascinating, even though it is fiction. I found the book intriguing and well written until the last few pages. At that point the author obviously felt the need to tie everything together for a conclusion. At this point it the story fell short. Too many unexplained - or unbelievable - loose ends.

[Zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty solid historical mystery set in 1907 New Orleans, specifically agianst the backdrop of the birth of jazz and the notorious red light district Storyville. Usual mix of real and fictional characters, but no one read as a caricature. Felt like there'd be an obvious villian, and while I mostly guessed the motive, the killer was a bit of a surprise.

CW: sexual assault/murder, N word used in historical context describing the various social castes of New Orleans.

[Gladys · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first David Fulmer novel and I enjoyed every minute of it. The storyline and characters are great -- not one dimensional but rounded and quite interesting. The author keeps the story very interesting and intriguing. The background of the story is New Orleans -- which he gives an indebt picture of the people and the era this story took place. If you like 'historical novels' with a bite do read this one -- I highly recommend it.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a little disappointed with the ending. Of course, I knew who the killer wasn't, but I would have preferred Valentin figuring out the killer instead of the person telling him. It might have been my fault since I've been in a reading slump, and it took me longer to finish than it should have.

Otherwise, it was a brilliant story, a place and time I want to visit and experience. I loved the language and characters with a great blend of mixing in fictional characters with non-fictional.

[notentirely · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a 5+ in terms of historic detail for a history nerd like me. But it was a 2.5 for quality of mystery. The reveal felt disjointed, though the conclusion was ultimately fine. I enjoyed the writing style so much that I’ll probably read the next in the series, however I can’t say I’d recommend this to anyone who isn’t already interest in Storyville history.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It takes a little while to get into, but this book is so good. Reading it is like being transported to New Orleans in a time machine. The language is rich, and the characters come to life. I look forward to reading the next books in the series. Also, a fantastic nonfiction companion to this book is Storyville by Al Rose. I was able to look up the histories behind the notorious Storyville figures.

[Rob Buechner · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars, and the tie goes to the author in that this was his first book, and the descriptions of the French Quarter are so vivid and well written that you literally feel transported to the turn of the century New Orleans. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for Fulmer's other books and am truly excited to continue this series.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Between a 3 and a 4 in the ratings for me. Let's say 3.5. Interesting history about New Orleans red light district in the late 1800's. I really liked the fictional detective, St Cyr, and his interactions with real folks from this era. The mystery was not as interesting to me as the descriptions of the time and place which were excellent. I'll read more in this series.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Turn of the century New Orleans and prostitutes are being killed.

Valentin St Cyr is hired to investigate but all the clues point to his childhood friend Jazz musician Buddy Bolden. As more bodies are victimized all have a connection to Buddy, who becomes more wild and out of control.

Atmosphere, voodoo, police corruption. Slow beginning.