Chasing the Devil's Tail cover art

Chasing the Devil's Tail

A Mystery of Storyville, New Orleans

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About this listen

 In the raucous, bloody, red-light district of Storyville, New Orleans, in 1907, where 2,000 scarlet women ply their trade, where cocaine and opium are sold over the counter, and where 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.

As Creole detective Valentin St. Cyr begins to investigate, 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; a young piano player who would come to be known as Jelly Roll Morton; and Buddy Bolden, the man who all but invented jazz. No ordinary mystery, Chasing the Devil's Tail is a chilling portrait of musical genius and self-destruction, set at the moment when jazz was born.

©2001 David Fulmer (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc. Historical Music Mystery Thriller & Suspense Fiction

Critic reviews

"Brimming with backstories and historical tidbits." ( Kirkus Reviews)
"A fine beginning to what looks like a first-rate historical series." ( Booklist)
"[Fulmer's] first fiction, which features a fascinating plot line and pervasive New Orleans atmosphere, is an outstanding historical." ( Library Journal)
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Another enjoyable Dion Graham performance in this drama, where for jazz musician, rabble rouser and sport King Bolden, the line between genius and insanity is very fine indeed. The identity of the Black Rose is clever too.

A Rose in Bloom

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