Lit By Lightning: A New Orleans Mystery

Jeffrey Chaussier, an actor in Midwest theatres, is asked to return to New Orleans to investigate his father's death. A reluctant sleuth, he re-connects with old friends as he delves into the circumstances of his father's so-called accidental death. New Orleans is home to what his co-workers in the Midwest would think "exotic" inhabitants. To Jeff they are his friends.In the eyes of New Orleans, an ex-Marine female impersonator, a huge black dockworker with the nickname of Paul Bunyan, an ex-cop with a red face and an unslakable thirst, a four hundred pound pool shark named Skinny, and honest cops are just the people who live in her embrace.Jeff grew up knowing them all, and they are his resource and his friends. Jeff also grew up knowing the easy camaraderie of the neighborhoods, the casual cuisine of neighborhood restaurants, the Creole flavored food of the French Quarter and the cooks at the firehouse for whom food is a consolation of their dangerous vocation.His trip takes him to the the music clubs where his brother plays, to a brother whose mind and heart are not defeated by physical paralysis and to the docks where his father worked, a police station where his grandfather worked, and the theatre where he once worked. There he meets a stunning blonde. Feelings explode on both sides, but Jeff learns that she is burdened with a secret that could ruin her life and threaten his. Jeff started with a simple question: Was his father's death an accident?As he treads the streets of New Orleans more arise: Why is he assaulted on the streets?What secret is his girlfriend hiding? Why is his old neighborhood being bought up and razed? Why are big, black cars following him?What hold does a sleazy judge have on his new girlfriend? Can he resolve the question of his father's death without losing his new-found love?Before those questions can be answered, Jeff may lose everything he wants in a raging fire. LIT BY LIGHTNING is the first in a series of the New Orleans-set adventures of Jeffrey Chaussier, actor and reluctant sleuth.