Customer Reviews

Lastanza: New Orleans Police Stories

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

Although Pontalba Press is the publisher of O'Neil DeNoux's "LaStanza: New Orleans Police Stories", we can truthfully say we were fans of Mr. DeNoux long before he signed with our company. His earlier novels such as "Blue Orleans" and "Crescent City Kills" were classics of the crime fiction/police story genre and have been heralded by such literary figures as Harlan Ellison, Robert Skinner and others. In "LaStanza: New Orleans Police Stories" DeNoux has finally been recognized by a broader audience, thanks to a rave review in ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, which ran in their December 3, 1999 edition. EW's Daneet Steffens wrote, "These short 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. DeNoux'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."

Mr. De Noux has been published widely in such crime fiction journals as Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and he continues to fascinate and entertain legions of die-hard fans. His latest book, we believe, is destined to bring him to a much wider audience

... but De Noux didn't make it easy. Grammatical and punctuation errors abound, including numerous slips such as "he" instead of "the," and "I'll" instead of "I'm." Frustrating! Also, De Noux is in need of a good (as in ruthless) editor. His ideas are great, and he has a good eye for color. However, he needs someone to occasionally rein him in when he gets too maudlin or bitter-sounding. Still, this collection of stories clearly shows his improvement as a writer over time, especially when he moves away from a first-person narrative. That being said, police officers, crime reporters and other crime junkies will likely still enjoy this book, as I did after forgiving the author his trespasses.