Portrait of a Young Man

A vagabond-bon viveur, politically unethical and frustrated turns out a sleuth by accident -or wishful thinking perhaps –picks up a catchy name and gets mixed up in a femme fatale case with a killing, two of them the same price, in the beautiful city of Pau, south France under the protecting wings of a rich and generous old woman – and her parrot. Less
About 5000 thriller-mystery books are coming out every day in various forms. Add this one in, under the NOIR tag.
It’s an old-school P.I story with a social context like all Noir, amateurish but very respectful to the genre-style, and certainly not aiming to become famous and immortal as the great ones like Chandler, Hammett, Thomson, etc. just to name a few. A vagabond-bon viveur, politically unethical and frustrated turns out a sleuth by accident -or wishful thinking perhaps –picks up a catchy name and gets mixed up in a femme fatale case with a killing, two of them the same price, in the beautiful city of Pau, south France under the protecting wings of a rich and generous old woman – and her parrot. A hard-boiled old-school Private Detective with all the flows of the genre, boozer, dirty-mouth, sarcastic, womanizer, sexist, impudent, etc. They all seem to have come out of the same mold. Mine is also a tournament Bridge player, Sherlock played the violin. Isidore Ducasse, P.I, is meant to become a series. History will show.
I am not a writer, I’m too old to become one. I’m just a NOIR LOVER, both movies and literature, and I have studied them both thoroughly as a reader and a spectator. My first try writing a book was combined with History and that’s how my first book A BYZANTINE REQUIEM came out. But…I’m no Historian either and the result was not “very” Noir. This new one aims to be 100% Noir albeit some autobiographical elements remains pure fiction and any resemblance … blah, blah blah.
This is the second Isidore Ducasse, a P. I sleuth in Southwest France by accident or maybe wishful thought. After installed and established in the city of Pau and with a little help from his friends, Isidore is participating in a treasure hunt with a shameful Historical context. The title and the cover being significant, I wont bother giving further details. History, known and unknown, bright and dark, mixed with fiction in a Noirish narrative that is my favorite. Bad guys are really bad and the good guys not always as good as they should be. In a plot implicating organized crime, the Vatican, the CIA and an emir Arab tycoon, Isidore becomes a moving target among females, not all sexy and gentle. Happy ending and a rather sad historical twist in the end, 100% product of pure imagination. A Jazz lover among others, all chapter titles are Jazz standards. Isidore Ducasse will probably continue with more novels to come.

I am not a professional writer, if it wasn’t about the KDP free publishing I would have probably never been published. I write exactly as I speak without any linguistic fioriture and generally I don’t mind my language. An old man retired from the grind, a passionate educated fan of the Noir literature and cinematography, fantasizing twisted Noir plots and immensely enjoying participating in them on paper, filling up long periods of old-age boredom. Not really writing novels expecting to sell and be read but mostly to keep me busy. Fun and entertainment more than “literature”, easy to swallow pulp fiction that has made quite a lot of people rich. Not me, at least yet!