Chasing the Devil's Tail (Valentin St. Cyr Mysteries)

Fulmer, David

ISBN 10: 1890208841 / ISBN 13: 9781890208844

Published by Poisoned Pen Press, 2001

About this Item

Poisoned Pen Press; Scottsdale, AZ: 2001. Fine/Fine. Hardcover. Book Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. Stated "First Edition, 2001"; first print with a full number line starting with "1". 8-3/4" tall, 320 numbered pages; one-piece medium brown cloth binding, gilt lettering in spine, boards plain; plain ivory end pages. Book is square, binding tight; very light general wear; corners not bumped; very slight crease at top front gutter; contents clean and unmarked. Jacket is clean and crisp (no mean trick with an all-white jacket!); no tears, markings, fading; flaps not corner cut (price of $24.95 is on rear panel). No other discernible or objectionable faults on book or jacket such as marks or writing within, stains, tears, chips, or other damage that would diminish its appearance. No remainder mark, no previous owner markings or inscriptions, not price clipped, not a book club edition, not a former library book. Signed (barely legibly) by author in thin black felt tip pen (a "Sharpie") on top of title page. The first of four Valentin St. Cyr tales from 1907 New Orleans. A wonderfully evocative portrait of a distant time and place. Seller Inventory # BMR-2020-7-3-2

Bibliographic Details

Title: Chasing the Devil's Tail (Valentin St. Cyr ...

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Publication Date: 2001

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

Not New Orleans--but Storyville--noir...and all that jazz!1907 Storyville. Cultures, races, and religions more often blend than clash in a rich gumbo only New Orleans could serve up. But trouble brews. In this red light district, prostitutes ply their trade whether in cramped cribs or elegant houses of French ancestry, while music surges through its streets and helps harmonize the light and dark elements. King Bolden rules the Storyville brass with his golden coronet and his gift--jasser--to blow a riff on the city's music that pulses with new rhythms and notes. But the real King of Storyville is Tom Anderson, the district's powerful property owner and political fixer, who employs Creole detective Valentin St. Cyr to dig into the deaths of a string of prostitutes. Each victim is found with a black rose. Is a serial killer leaving a calling card? Is King Bolden losing his mind as he stretches his genius to its limits? Why is an elderly priest sent away under care?""This brilliant debut noir captures a time and place so perfectly the reader will resent each time he has to lay it aside....""--Barbara Peters

Review:

"In the tradition of "The Alienist, Chasing the Devil's Tail "gives us top-notch suspense fiction in a delightfully evocative and harrowing time and place: New Orleans' Storyville at the beginning of the twentieth century. We immediately fall under the author's spell and are soon roaming the authentic haunts of that neighborhood in the company of his characters, some good and some not so, but all wonderfully colorful and as real as the blues." --Jeffery Deaver, author of "The Bone Collector, The Blue Nowhere" and "Speaking in Tongues.""The mystery is a good one, satisfyingly resolved. The characters are memorable and the period is brilliantly recaptured. If Fulmer, a documentary film producer, has plans for future stories about St. Cyr and his real and imaginary Fourth Ward cronies, they'd be more than welcome here." --Dick Lochte, "LA TImes""[Fulmer's] first fiction, which features a fascinating plot line and pervasive New Orleans atmosphere, is an outstanding historical." --"Library Journal" "