Chasing the Devil's Tail: A Mystery of Storyville, New Orleans (Harvest Book) - Softcover

David Fulmer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0156027283 ISBN 13: 9780156027281

Publisher: Mariner Books, 2003

Synopsis

In New Orleans's red light district in the early twentieth century, politician Tom Anderson hires Creole detective Valentin St. Cyr to investigate the deaths of several prostitutes, each of whom is found with a black rose. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author

David Fulmer, a writer and producer, lives in Atlanta with his daughter Italia. Chasing the Devil's Tail is his first novel.

From the Back Cover

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist: Mystery/Thriller
A Booklist Best First Mystery Series


"A beautifully constructed, elegantly presented time trip to a New Orleans of the very early 1900s...." --Los Angeles Times

Storyville, 1907: In this raucous red-light district, where two thousand scarlet women ply their trade, where cocaine and opium are sold over the counter, and where rye whiskey flows freely, there's a killer loose. Someone is murdering Storyville prostitutes and marking each killing with a black rose.
As Creole detective Valentin St. Cyr begins to unravel the murder against this extraordinary backdrop, he encounters a cast of characters drawn from history: Tom Anderson, the political boss who runs Storyville like a private kingdom; Lulu White, the district's most notorious madam; E.J. Bellocq, the crippled dwarf and photographer of whores; a young piano player who would later be known as Jelly Roll Morton; and finally, Buddy Bolden, the man who all but invented jazz and is now losing his mind.
An original tale of murder, music, and madness, Chasing the Devil's Tail is a chilling portrait of genius and self-destruction, set at the very moment when jazz was born.


"A wonderful rendition of a particular world at a very distinctive time." --The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)

"Captures Storyville in all its creative, mystical and sordid excess." --The Atlanta Journal-Constitution


David Fulmer, a writer and producer, lives in Atlanta with his daughter, Italia. Chasing the Devil's Tail is his first novel.

Edition details

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0156027283
• ISBN 13: 9780156027281
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336