Customer Reviews

Murder in the Rue St. Ann: A Novel (Chanse MacLeod Mysteries)

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

In this second in the "Chanse MacLeod" mystery series, former New Orleans cop-turned-private investigator Chanse MacLeod is hired by the owner of a new nightclub to find out who has been trying to sabotage her business from opening. During his preliminary investigation, he finds his boyfriend, Paul, is somehow involved with one of the suspects in the case. Eventually, Chanse finds out that Paul had a secret past as a well-known "erotic wrestler" in gay videos, which makes Chanse doubt how well he really knows his boyfriend. When Paul is then arrested for the murder of one of the other suspects, Chanse fights an inner battle between his feelings and loyalty to his boyfriend and his instincts as an investigator, a battle that isn't completely resolved when Paul is cleared of the charges and promptly disappears.

A captivating mystery of deceptions, kinky obsessions, unshared pasts, loyalties, and mob ties, well-written as is all of Herren's works. Kept me on the edge of my seat till the last page.

I have read all three of his novels and each one is more intriguing and difficult to put down for a moment. Murder in the Rue St. Ann is so descriptive that you actually feel you are present in New Orleans. Great set of main characters who continue in the novel and are not dropped out midstream. I can't wait for his next novel. GREAT job here.

This book is darker than most of the Greg Herren books but still a must read. I recommend reading his books in order. Each book is more intriguing and each book is more interesting. He develops his main characters more with each page and each book to where the characters become a part of your life. I love how you get to see the weaknesses in Chance's shell in this book and his emotions. I just warn you the ending is not how you would hope it would end. Add this series to your library as Chance is a great gay detective that is just trying to find his way in life.

When a gay private eye's boyfriend disappears he learns that the lad's unshared past might have a bearing on a case he is already investigating. Second in this series is nicely plotted and well paced (unlike the first, which was somewhat tedious). Too much drug use for my taste, but perhaps that is normal in this milieu. Recommended for both straight and gay readers.

My wife bought this book, autographed by the author, at the Louisiana Book Festival. Reading it took me on a trip behind French Quarter facade that the tourists see--at least to the gay/lesbian subculture, which in the Big Easy is substantial. I liked the flawed nature of hero Chanse McLeod as he grappled with his feelings about his wrestler boyfriend. By the end, I was hoping that things would turn out differently than I somehow knew they would, and did. The gay porno wrestling scene in the first chapter might put some readers off, but it's worth breaking through.

Having thoroughly enjoyed Greg Herren's BOURBON STREET BLUES and JACKSON SQUARE JAZZ I was really looking forward to this one. It was a colossal disappointment to say the least. Whereas the other two were light and witty and the hero was charming, this book was dark and depressing and the hero was an egoistic, jealous, and above all--STUPID bore. It was obvious from the word go who had abducted his boyfriend. So for nine tenths of the book, in spite of the school of red herrings that were constantly thrown at us, we were left to agonize at his ineptitude. And then there's the ending! Believe me it was all for nothing. Stick with the two books I've mentioned. Forget this irritating trip to nowhere.

I didn't like it very much because the book makes seem New Orleans as a place only with Gay Bars (I don't mean this disrespectfully). Anyway, the plot is actually good, suspense and everything that you expect to find in this kind of detective-mistery novels. One thing I can say is that I anjoyed very much the descriptions of the city and the ending is interesting. I on't regret buying the book but I have better books that take place in New Orleans and-or deal with the novel's topic.