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Murder in the Rue Dauphine

Murder in the Rue Dauphine

List Price: $13.95
Your Price: $10.46
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Chances are..
Review: Great Characters, Greaeat Plot, Great Atmosphere. Mr Herren takes us for a Romp through the city of New Orleans, and along the way we experience, bullets, break ins and bad driving. What a fun ride!

Chanse, one of my new favorite detectives, is a world wise cynic- and while he falls into the stereotypical "hard boiled" detective catagory, I am sure that more will be revealed about his nature in future books ( I am hoping for a series) Best friend Paige is a scream, and one does not know what to expect from olice officer Venus.

It is a largely character driven novel, rich in detail ... in fact the City of New Orleans becomes a character itself.

This book is well written, clips along at a good pace, and is devilishly funny.

I cant wait for more from Mr Herren

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: New Orleans is a character...
Review: Great mystery set in an exciting environment. Most books set in New Orleans absorb the atmosphere as another character, but with that said, the only drawback were the other characters. The secondary human characters in the gay ghetto blend into each other - I found it hard to keep track of the possible murderers. But overall, I recommend it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Didn't he edit is own book???
Review: I bought Murder in the Rue Dauphine, because I had recently visited New Orleans and thought it would be fun to read something set there. I looked forward to recognizing places I had gone while there. I am also a big mystery fan and was hoping for a fun new author.

I was not disappointed in the setting of the book coming alive. Mr. Herren does a very good job of taking the reader to New Orleans. Chanse is a pretty fun character, if a little too "gay perfect," at times. I really liked his "Grace," Paige. I felt he was a bit too steroetypical with his villian, though. The plot, while predictable at times, was fun enough to keep me interested and, in the end, I was surprised at who the actual killer was.

My biggest problem was with the editing. It seems Mr. Herren, who edits other people's work for anthologies, didn't edit his own. For instance, Chanse and another character are talking about Paul, Chanse's maybe boyfriend, and Herren refers to one of the characters talking as Paul. There are other such instances of the editor not paying attention here and there that, while distracting, didn't take away from the book as a whole. Also, while I am sure it is just one of Mr. Herren's fetishes, from what I saw when there,not every hot guy in New Orleans walks around in "white tank tops a size too small."

Over all a pleasant little mystery and I would probably pick up another if this becomes a series.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I took a chance
Review: I couldn't put it down. Herren's book was well written, suspensful and exciting. I have read several Lesbian mysteries and pretty much fell asleep reading them. I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It's story, the writing and the ability to keep my interest was unexpected. I am looking forward to Herren's next book! I hope he takes Chanse on more wild rides through New Orleans.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Typical First-Mystery Blues
Review: I had read a lot of good things about "Murder in the Rue Dauphine" and was looking forward to reading it. Perhaps that's why I'm so disappointed. If you find something by chance and it turns out to be bad, no problem. If you await something eagerly and it turns out not to be good, then it doubles the bad.

This book is bad, doubled.

It appears that author Greg Herren was determined not to ignore any cliche of gay fiction lest one of them gets its feelings hurt, nearly so every character is trim, works out, parties all night, and cheats on his lover. Those who are not are homely, pathetic trolls with whom no self-respecting man would tryst.

Herren attempts to combine a hard-boiled style with the wisecracking of newer detectives and standard gay fiction, which doesn't work as well as you'd hope. A lot of the exposition falls flat and the dialog is clumsy, though realistic, as though Herren had simply spent an evening in bars taking notes. When will writes learn that this doesn't work?

The "mystery" of the initial murder is so simplistic as to be laughable. The deeper complications involving gay-bashing and male escorts rely far too much on coincidence than detective work.

New Orleans, a city that should make a fantastic backdrop for any novel, does not make an appearance. Instead, Herren trots out a list of tourist sites.

Overall, I'd give it a miss.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Typical First-Mystery Blues
Review: I had read a lot of good things about "Murder in the Rue Dauphine" and was looking forward to reading it. Perhaps that's why I'm so disappointed. If you find something by chance and it turns out to be bad, no problem. If you await something eagerly and it turns out not to be good, then it doubles the bad.

This book is bad, doubled.

It appears that author Greg Herren was determined not to ignore any cliche of gay fiction lest one of them gets its feelings hurt, nearly so every character is trim, works out, parties all night, and cheats on his lover. Those who are not are homely, pathetic trolls with whom no self-respecting man would tryst.

Herren attempts to combine a hard-boiled style with the wisecracking of newer detectives and standard gay fiction, which doesn't work as well as you'd hope. A lot of the exposition falls flat and the dialog is clumsy, though realistic, as though Herren had simply spent an evening in bars taking notes. When will writes learn that this doesn't work?

The "mystery" of the initial murder is so simplistic as to be laughable. The deeper complications involving gay-bashing and male escorts rely far too much on coincidence than detective work.

New Orleans, a city that should make a fantastic backdrop for any novel, does not make an appearance. Instead, Herren trots out a list of tourist sites.

Overall, I'd give it a miss.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Yawn
Review: I read the first fifty or so pages, and then I just skipped to the end. There were so many ... mystery cliches that I just got intensely bored. Too bad the book didn't live up to the catchy cover.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Chances are..
Review: I've read lots of gay fiction over the past few years, but have never really read any gay mystery fiction. I had suspected that it would be the same as "straight mystery fiction" with gym memberships, club music and more money involved.

I wasn't wrong.

In this book, the main character is your typical, jaded and quip-ridden gay man in his 30's. Naturally, he has a great body, enough money in the bank to 'kind-of' work and plenty of time to meet other guys with great bodies in his gym.

The annoyingly-typical main character aside, the story itself is entertaining and somewhat of a cliffhanger. The author, however, does a bit too much foreshadowing in a key point in the story and makes it easy from there on to figure out who the bad guy is.

The author does a good job of storytelling, but a number of the sub-plots (the main character's boyfriend-or-not who never actually plays a relevant role gets way too much page time) are a bit distracting.

This is a good book to take to the beach but one that will fade from memory soon after finished. We'll see what his next book is like..

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Entertaining but fairly forgettable
Review: I've read lots of gay fiction over the past few years, but have never really read any gay mystery fiction. I had suspected that it would be the same as "straight mystery fiction" with gym memberships, club music and more money involved.

I wasn't wrong.

In this book, the main character is your typical, jaded and quip-ridden gay man in his 30's. Naturally, he has a great body, enough money in the bank to 'kind-of' work and plenty of time to meet other guys with great bodies in his gym.

The annoyingly-typical main character aside, the story itself is entertaining and somewhat of a cliffhanger. The author, however, does a bit too much foreshadowing in a key point in the story and makes it easy from there on to figure out who the bad guy is.

The author does a good job of storytelling, but a number of the sub-plots (the main character's boyfriend-or-not who never actually plays a relevant role gets way too much page time) are a bit distracting.

This is a good book to take to the beach but one that will fade from memory soon after finished. We'll see what his next book is like..

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Suspense! Very Easy, yet satisfying read!
Review: The Author, Greg Herren has created a very easy to read, yet very suspenseful novel about a Gay College Athlete, turned former Police Officer, turned Private Eye, Chanse McLeod. Chanse is hired by a good looking, Gay Playboy, Mike Hansen to look into someone that is blackmailing him and his 'deep in the closet' lover. However, a murder occurs that throws Chanse, and both his journalist friend Paige, and tough Police Officer friend 'Venus'.

Chanse reminds us throughout the book that 'he does not do murders'. However, every time he turns around, he is getting dragged more and more into the investigation of Mike's murder. I had to stifle laughs and giggles every time Chanse got spun around in this story again, and usually finishing off a narration of why he quit being a cop and took up P.I. work... 'that is why I don't do Murders'.

You will really enjoy this book. It takes twist and turns that you will not see coming but will thoroughly enjoy.


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