The Big Easy

This novel of violence and racial strife set in New Orleans is full of social and physical contrasts. Comiski, a newspaper reporter, descends into an underworld of corrupt policemen, narcotics dealers and black militants in an attempt to unravel a mysterious grave-robbing and find some meaning in his own life. Powerful and compelling. (Originally published in hardcover by Houghton Mifflin) St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Grim, gripping, violent and practically impossible to put down." Publisher's Weekly: "The scene is unglamorous New Orleans - decay, dirt, garbage... smell, every kind of filth, human and animal, in a brief, well-written novel of hopeless degradations that has a unique impact." Library Journal: "A short- fast-paced and absorbing novel... that probes deeply into the texture of the contemporary South, and entertains from first page to last."

Someone is killing New Orleans street people, and it's hurting the city's tourist trade beginning to recover from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. More than murder, voodoo is involved, the killer possibly an actual Vodoun deity. Wyatt Thomas, the French Quarter's favorite P.I., is forced to respond, or to die.

Between the World Wars, New Orleans transformed its image from that of a corrupt and sullied port of call into that of a national tourist destination. Anthony J. Stanonis tells how boosters and politicians reinvented the city to build a modern mass tourism industry and, along the way, fundamentally changed the city's cultural, economic, racial, and gender structure. Stanonis looks at the importance of urban development, historic preservation, taxation strategies, and convention marketing to New Orleans' makeover and chronicles the city's efforts to domesticate its jazz scene, "democratize" Mardi Gras, and stereotype local blacks into docile, servile roles. He also looks at depictions of the city in literature and film and gauges the impact on New Orleans of white middle-class America's growing prosperity, mobility, leisure time, and tolerance of women in public spaces once considered off-limits. Visitors go to New Orleans with expectations rooted in the city's "past": to revel with Mardi Gras maskers, soak up the romance of the French Quarter, and indulge in rich cuisine and hot music. Such a past has a basis in history, says Stanonis, but it has been carefully excised from its gritty context and scrubbed clean for mass consumption.

An enchanting space that’s truly unique calls for a sense of humor, whimsy, and an open mind. From a charmed New Orleans childhood to a successful acting career on Broadway and the award-winning TV show Mad Men to the opening of his popular Big Easy home furnishings boutique, Hazelnut, Bryan Batt has always turned to home design as a creative outlet. To him, the best rooms are unexpected yet refined and, above all, evoke emotion. He doesn’t think twice about hanging oversized decorations from a Mardi Gras float in an elegant dining room or bringing home vintage etchings of sconces when he was actually shopping for real ones. He believes that a vibrant orange wall can be a neutral backdrop for an antique writing desk and earthy accessories, and that an artist’s whimsical bird’s nest sculpture hung in a lavender entryway couldn’t serve as a better welcome into a cozy abode. New Orleans has taught Bryan so much about how to pull together a space that’s fearless and colorful with plenty of panache. With the city as his muse—its strong roots in history, its celebration of tradition, and, of course, the wild festivities of Mardi Gras—he believes that designing a fabulous, livable home that truly reflects a dweller’s passions need not be intimidating. Big, Easy Style showcases rooms that make Bryan smile, with pages of rich photography featuring the work of many designers—and plenty of Crescent City interiors—framed by his own entertaining maxims on color, pattern, collecting, living areas, intimate spaces, and more. Explore rooms he’s personally designed and others that inspire him; from an old-world kitchen imported straight from the heart of France to a luxurious Art Deco media room, these homes are enticing and unique, and through their surprising details, completely inviting. Decorating your home to reflect your personality and taste takes practice and patience and can be a daunting undertaking, but Bryan proposes that we not worry about making mistakes, that any decision we make is better than no decision at all. With Big, Easy Style, learn how to put aside your hesitation and surrender to the wild side of home design for a big statement that’s easy to achieve. "You’ll love his collection of photographs of beautiful New Orleans rooms layered with his design tips and anecdotes of his own design experiences."—Southern Living "[Big, Easy Style] reads like a hard-copy extension of Batt's personality--elegant, gregarious, funny, showman-like. The rooms he's chosen to showcase are painstakingly designed, yet, in that enviable way, appear so easily tossed together."— Susan Langenhennig, The Times Picayune "With great passion and a zest for creativity, [Bryan Batt] and Katy Danos offer thoughtful tips on color, collecting, patterns and much more along the way. Kerri McCaffety captures the beauty of each room in her inviting photographs. I love Batt's unique whimsy style. How many of us would think of placing giant decorations from a Mardi Gras float in a lavish dining room? Or how about hanging an ornate crystal chandelier in the kitchen? Or what about painting a Chippendale-style chair mellow yellow. But they all work!"—Jeryl Brunner, Stylist.com "If you've missed Bryan Batt since he left the set of Mad Men in 2009 (he played Salvatore Romano), catch up with him in a decor ode to his hometown: New Orleans. [In Big, Easy Style], we're treated to his vision of making rooms inviting, festive and ultimately setting the foundation for entertaining, which is what this get-down town is all about."—San Francisco Chronicle "The book is full of Batt's tips. It's like spending an afternoon with someone who you'd like to watch decorate a home."-- Karen Dalton-Beninato, Huffington Post Books

Halloween in the Big Easy . . . Does evil really exist? Michael Quinn and Danni Cafferty are far too familiar with the question. At the death of her father, Danni inherited his house and shop on Royal Street in New Orleans-and much more than she ever anticipated, including a book kept by her family for generations on how to combat the most unusual forces. As Halloween approaches, Quinn is already nervous-he knows what the season can bring. Even as Danni tries to convince him that very good things can happen as well, a man arrives in their kitchen, seeking their very special assistance. Sean DeMille is a lover of decoration and costume-and all things Halloween-until the body of a murdered man shows up in the midst of his backyard 'cemetery.' With an axe in his head. Could the infamous Axe-man of New Orleans have found his way back after nearly a century? Or is just the insidious at work, a spirit or demon filtering into an object or a person and creating the mayhem all over again? With the help of their odd team, Danni and Quinn must find the truth behind the strange happenings haunting the city-lest they fall prey to that very strange evil themselves.

Gene Fields spent 35 years of his adult life in law enforcement in the Metro New Orleans area. For 19 years, he served on the New Orleans Police Department beginning in 1961. In 1980, he retired, accepting a Deputy Chief with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. He retired again in 1995. This book chronicles Gene's memoirs, providing a compilation of criminal investigations, unusual incidents, terrorism, and humorous stories involving Gene, his friends and co-workers, and the occassional celebrity. Gene relives dramatic changes within the NOPD. He served the city during a transition period, as veteran officers who joined after WWII and the Korean War, retired, and a new, more ambitious breed, replaced them. Some of these recruits were better educated and more diverse. What you will read in this book is factual and supported by police reports, news clippings, and most importantly, the recollections of those involved in the stories. Some names have been changed to protect the identities and prevent unnecessary embarrassment. Some people may be aggravated or insulted by how they are described in certain cases, but Gene stands by his accounts, and the read is a fascinating one.

Lemon Boy Phillips, of Paladin Security, provided protection and crowd management. The Lemon Boy tag was a childhood reference to his complexion and freckles. Then Lola Montclaire strolled back into his life. In New Orleans, bluesman Blind Billy Brown was planning a concert in the Ninth Ward, and he called Old School performers to come home, including Lola, her nephew MC TruLuv, and her security, Lemon Boy, but it wouldn't be N'awlins without controversy. Billy's concert was taking place at the same time as the famous New Orleans Jazz Revival. Secondly, the lead act at the revival was TruLuv's enemy, MC "OOO-WEE," a rapper whose music is only overshadowed by his drunken violence. Then MC OOO-WEE was found dead, and his girlfriend Alexis was found floating in the Mississippi. THAT WAS A MISTAKE, KILLING THEM ON LEMON BOY'S WATCH! Evidence pointed to someone from Blind Billy's concert. The police were eager to make an arrest. Lemon Boy had to make sure it's the right person. With the help of his staff, Terri, Bobby Sr. and Bobby Jr., he will solve the case of: Dying Hard in the Big Easy!

Among the dead in the water after hurricane Katrina are three nude bodies, none with water in their lungs. There’s a killer on the loose. Also, the bodies were once frozen, obliterating key forensic clues. Broussard and Franklyn embark on a dangerous journey through New Orleans; leading them to a kind of evil that neither of them could imagine.