Chasing the Devil's Tail
A Valentin St. Cyr Mystery
David Fulmer
Review: David Fulmer introduces Valentin St. Cyr in his first mystery, Chasing the Devil's Tail.
This atmospheric mystery has all the elements of a great book: memorable characters, a terrific plot, conflict and resolution, and a unique time and locale for detective fiction, New Orleans early in the 20th century. Fulmer also gives an authentic feel to his story by incorporating historical people and events.
Valentin St. Cyr is a complex character. Though he works for, and in some ways is indebted to, the unofficial mayor of Storyville, Tom Anderson (a real-life person who owned the largest saloon and had a stake in many others), Valentin has an independent streak and follows his own moral compass in dealing with friends and associates, putting at risk his relationship with the powerful Anderson. He suspects Anderson knows more than he's letting on, but is wise enough not to push too hard to get the information.
Though Fulmer leads the reader to the obvious conclusion as to who is the perpetrator of the crimes, the why, and in particular, the how, remain a mystery to the very end.
Chasing the Devil's Tail is unquestionably the year's best mystery.
Acknowledgment: Poisoned Pen Press provided an ARC of Chasing the Devil's Tail for this review.
Review Copyright © 2001 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Location(s) referenced in Chasing the Devil's Tail: New Orleans, Louisiana
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Chasing the Devil's Tail by David Fulmer
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Format: Hardcover
ISBN-10: 1-890208-84-1
ISBN-13: 978-1-890208-84-4
Publication Date: November 2001
List Price: $24.95
Synopsis (from the publisher): Storyville, New Orleans, 1907. In this raucous, rowdy, bloody red-light district, where 2000 scarlet women ply their trade in grand mansions and filthy dime-a-trick cribs, cocaine and opium are sold over the counter, and rye whiskey flows like an amber river, there's a killer loose.
Someone is murdering Storyville prostitutes and marking each killing with a black rose. There's a new music called "jass" in the air. And madness is shattering the mind of "King" Buddy Bolden, even as he showers the New Orleans nights with his loud brass.
When Creole detective Valentin St. Cyr is sent to bring down the murderer, he encounters an extraordinary cast of characters, many of them drawn from history: Tom Anderson, the political boss who runs Storyville like a private kingdom; Lulu White, the District's most notorious madam, later an inspiration for Mae West; E. J. Bellocq, the crippled dwarf and photographer of Storyville whores; Ferdinand LeMenthe, the young piano player who would come to be known as Jelly Roll Morton; and finally, Buddy Bolden, the man who all but invented jazz and is now losing his mind.
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