Lastanza: New Orleans Police Stories [Hardcover]

O'Neil De Noux (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1999

This collection of 17 stories mark the genesis and early development of Dino LaStanza, the hard-bitten, wise-cracking New Orleans police detective in O'Neil DeNoux's critically-acclaimed murder mystery/police story series. Besides LaStanza: New Orleans Police Stories, fans of LaStanza have also encountered him in previous novels like The Big Kiss, Grim Reaper, Blue Orleans, Crescent City Kills and The Big Show.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

DeNoux's series character, New Orleans homicide detective Dino LaStanza, is featured in a collection of gritty noir short stories. (The last novel in which LaStanza appeared was 1988's The Big Show.) Like his protagonist, DeNoux has been a New Orleans police detective, and his years of grim experience in a city with a soaring murder rate are reflected in these dark tales of life on the very mean streets. These stories are not only hardboiled: they are raunchy, violent and filled with obscenities. Each short narrative follows one of LaStanza's cases. The tales are unremittingly bleak: a beautiful young woman commits suicide; a jogger is attacked by a gang; an elderly woman is killed by random gunfire. Unfortunately, DeNoux's prose is labored and stiff, his characters are cardboard and his plots are thin and predictable. The best hard-boiled writing compresses powerful emotion into tight, minimalist prose. While these stories display plenty of tough attitude, there's not a lot of feeling in De Noux's choppy sentences. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"For a look at the seamy side of the Crescent City...this is the real deal." -- NEW ORLEANS TIMES-PICAYUNE

"The New Orleans of Dino LaStanza...(is) well observed and fascinating." -- ELLERY QUEEN MYSTERY MAGAZINE

"These short autobiographical stories may be shamelessly semiautobiographical, but De Noux's frank approach skirts any potentially maudlin pitfalls and only adds heft to his comfortable, down-to-earth fiction. In this collection, covering 17 episodes in the working life of Det. Dino LaStanza, he offers a raw glimpse of police work that makes even an in-your-face series like NBC's Homicide: Life on the Street look positively polished. De Noux's own experience as a New Orleans police officer and his intimate knowledge of the Big Easy's residents, neighborhoods and cemetaries make for compelling stories, both gritty and humane." A --Daneet Steffens, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY -- ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 326 pages
• Publisher: Pontalba Pr (November 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1891643738
• ISBN-13: 978-1891643736
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,188,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

O'Neil De Noux
brief bio

Born in New Orleans, O'Neil De Noux is a prolific American writer of novels and short stories. Although much of De Noux's fiction falls under the mystery genre (character-drive crime fiction primarily), he has published stories in many disciplines including historical fiction, children's fiction, mainstream fiction, science-fiction, suspense, fantasy, horror, western, literary, religious, romance, humor and erotica.

At the World Mystery Convention in 2007, The Private Eye Writers of America awarded its prestigious Shamus Award for BEST SHORT STORY to "The Heart Has Reasons" by O'Neil De Noux (the cover story of the September 2006 Issue of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine). The Shamus Award is given annually recognize outstanding achievement in private eye fiction. "The Heart Has Reasons" features De Noux's private eye Lucien Caye. De Noux is also the 2009 Derringer Award winner for BEST NOVELETTE (stories between 8,001 and 17,500 words) for "Too Wise" - another Lucien Caye private eye mystery. The Derringer Awards are given annually by the Short Mystery Fiction Society to recognize excellence in the short mystery fiction form. Another De Noux story, "The Bonnie and Clyde Caper" featuring New Orleans Police Homicide Detective John Raven Beau was runner up in the Derringer Best Long Story category.

In 2009, De Noux tapped his history background to pen a 320,000 word historical epic set during The Battle of New Orleans and received an Artist Services Career Advancement Award for 2009-2010 from the Louisiana Division of the Arts for his work on this upcoming book - BATTLE KISS.

Recognizing the future of publishing, De Noux made a move to eBooks and print-on-demand books in 2010, teaming with other artists in the art co-op Big Kiss Productions. Slick Time, a sexy caper novel, was published by Big Kiss Productions via amazon.com (CreateSpace print-on-demand and KINDLE). New Orleans Nocturnal is a collection of nine crime stories featuring John Raven Beau. Big Kiss Productions released the second edition of New Orleans Confidential, adding the two award-winning private-eye stories, "The Heart Has Reasons" and "Too Wise." Additionally, De Noux began selling previously published and unpublished short stories on Amazon KINDLE directly to the public as eBooks via his web site - http://www.oneildenoux.net

Also in 2010, De Noux's long-awaited erotic-thriller, Mafia Aphrodite, was published by British publisher Xcite Books.

In March 2011, the novel John Raven Beau was published by Big Kiss Productions. A hyper-realistic crime story, John Raven Beau provides an intimate look into the beleaguered NOPD Homicide Division, a story that begins in the French Quarter and ends in a swamp, all within the city limits of America's eternal city, a city that cannot be destroyed - New Orleans. Also in 2011, the short story collection New Orleans Prime Evil (ten historical mysteries) was published.

Bibliography
Novels
* Grim Reaper (Zebra Books, 1988)
* The Big Kiss (Zebra Books, 1990)
* Blue Orleans (Zebra Books, 1991)
* Crescent City Kills (Zebra Books, 1992)
* The Big Show (Pontabla Press, 1998)
* Mafia Aphrodite (Xcite Books, 2010)
* Slick Time (Big Kiss Productions, 2010)
* John Raven Beau (Big Kiss Productions, 2011)
* BATTLE KISS (Big Kiss Productions, 2011)
Short Story Collections
* LaStanza: New Orleans Police Stories (Pontabla Press, 1999)
* Hollow Point & The Mystery of Rochelle Marais (Gryphon Books, 2000)
* New Orleans Irresistible (EAA Signature Series Books, 2006)
* New Orleans Mysteries (Big Kiss Productions, 2009)
* New Orleans Confidential (Big Kiss Productions, 2010)
* New Orleans Nocturnal (Big Kiss Productions, 2010)
* New Orleans Prime Evil (Big Kiss Productions, 2011)
Non-fiction books
* Specific Intent (Pinnacle Books, 1993)
* Building Believable Characters - Contributing Writer (Writer's Digest Books, 1996)
* A Short Guide to Writing and Selling Fiction (Big Kiss Productions, 2010)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-have for Dino Lastanza fans or those new to De Noux, February 11, 2001

By 

Elizabeth H. "MurderExpress.net" (Coos Bay, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lastanza: New Orleans Police Stories (Hardcover)

I've been in love with O'Neil De Noux's books since I first laid eyes on them many years ago. "Lastanza: New Orleans Police Stories" fills in some gaps in NOPD Homicide Detective Dino Lastanza's career for those of us already familiar with him and gives readers who are new to him a wonderful insight to his character. I've read all of De Noux's books many times over and I never tire of them. This is what homicide is like in the real New Orleans!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This collection runs the gamut ..., February 16, 2000

By 

Kent Westmoreland (New Orleans, LA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lastanza: New Orleans Police Stories (Hardcover)

This collection runs the gamut from hilarious to viloent to gentle. It is an accurate protrayal of police life, not to mention a lot of fun to read.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars True New Orleans, July 12, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Lastanza: New Orleans Police Stories (Hardcover)

A book of fiction, but the characters are Real in this city! You have got to know that the writer is a lover of New Orleans, and a true New Orleanian, from speech, to his attitude. Got to Love it.