Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #741830 in Books
• Published on: 2002-02-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Synopsis
A Sizzling Gay Mystery Following the Trail of an Explosive Crime; For gay New Orleans private investigator Chanse MacLeod, it seemed like a simple case: find out who was blackmailing his pretty-boy client's rich, closeted boyfriend, collect a nice cheque, and take some time off. But then the pretty boy turns up dead in what looks like a hate crime and the gay community of New Orleans is up in arms, demanding justice. In the stifling heat of a New Orleans summer, Chanse searches for an extremely clever killer on a trail leading to a gay rights organisation, boys for hire, and New Orleans society, knowing he has to find the killer before the entire city explodes.

Customer Reviews

Typical First Mystery Blues
I had read a lot of good things about "Murder in the Rue Dauphine" and was looking forward to reading it. Perhaps that's why I'm so disappointed. If you find something by chance and it turns out to be bad, no problem. If you await something eagerly and it turns out not to be good, then it doubles the bad.

This book is bad, doubled.

It appears that author Greg Herren was determined not to ignore any cliche of gay fiction lest one of them gets its feelings hurt, nearly so every character is trim, works out, parties all night, and cheats on his lover. Those who are not are homely, pathetic trolls with whom no self-respecting man would tryst.

Herren attempts to combine a hard-boiled style with the wisecracking of newer detectives and standard gay fiction, which doesn't work as well as you'd hope. A lot of the exposition falls flat and the dialog is clumsy, though realistic, as though Herren had simply spent an evening in bars taking notes. When will writes learn that this doesn't work?

The "mystery" of the initial murder is so simplistic as to be laughable. The deeper complications involving gay-bashing and male escorts rely far too much on coincidence than detective work.

New Orleans, a city that should make a fantastic backdrop for any novel, does not make an appearance. Instead, Herren trots out a list of tourist sites.

Overall, I'd give it a miss.