The importance of New Orleans in American culture has made the city's place in the American imagination a crucial topic for literary scholars and cultural historians. While databases of bibliographical information on New Orleans-centered fiction are available, they are of little use to scholars researching works written before the 1980s. In The New Orleans of Fiction: A Research Guide, James A. Kaser provides detailed synopses for more than 500 works of fiction significantly set in New Orleans and published between 1836 and 1980. The synopses include plot summaries, names of major characters, and an indication of physical settings. An appendix provides bibliographical information for works dating from 1981 well into the 21st century, while a biographical section provides basic information about the authors, some of whom are obscure and would be difficult to find in other sources. Written to assist researchers in locating works of fiction for analysis, the plot summaries highlight ways in which the works touch on major aspects of social history and cultural studies (i.e., class, ethnicity, gender, immigrant experience, and race). The book is also a useful reader advisory tool for librarians and readers who want to identify materials for leisure reading, particularly since genre, juvenile, and young adult fiction—as well as literary fiction—are included.

An Athlete. A Therapist. A Murder. A Medal.Siana Singh can run fast; she is just slow in discovering where she belongs, wedged between her traditional Punjabi family and her western beliefs. She clashes with her father on everything from ripped pants to life goals until the day he is murdered. Dr. Silverstone is a therapist whose primary purpose has been one of being an exemplary mother. Living her life guided by deep faith, she has lost her daughter to 9/11 and her living son to a crime. She understands loss well and is eager to help her patient Siana.Siana and the doctor feed off each other. For Siana, Dr. Silverstone's warmth occupies a parental figure; for the doctor, Siana embodies hope as if helping her could rescue her son.But everything changes when the doctor discovers the hideous truth that connects her to Siana.House of Milk and Cheese is the poignant yet heartwarming story of a young woman whose pursuit of overcoming her demons makes for a nail-biting drama as she realizes . . . To seek redemption is to pursue the impossible dream.

Brandy Alexander. Names for a cold drink and a hot babe. In New Orleans the combination can be dangerous. So with a name like Brandy Alexander - it seems her life's course was already determined. On the day she was born, her father and uncle waited in a bar and decided that Brandy would be a great name for a girl with the last name of Alexander. Her mother reminds her is it a great one for a stripper and blames Brandy-as if she had anything to do with it. Being childhood sweethearts with her police officer boyfriend, doesn't stop her from kissing a handsome stranger at a Mardi Gras Parade. A kiss that rocks her world and complicates her life. Before she has a chance to find out his name or who he is - he is shot By the time an ambulance arrives, he has asked for her help in saving Isabella. Isabella is not at all what she expected. As Brandy tries to unravel the sudden complications in her life, the Mardi Gras parade serves as a backdrop and foil to her search for answers. Disguised identities in crowded and narrow streets, colorful characters and a four-legged femme fatale add up to magic, mystery and dazzling reveals. Will Brandy ever find out the true identity of her Mardi Gras mystery man? Who is Isabella and why is she so important to him? New Orleans is a character of its own in this whimsical story of tangled lives, plot twists and historical references. Just as music is an essential part of New Orleans, so is the lyrical lexicon of club patrons, locals and a friend called Duck Man. Brandy Alexander lives up to her name in the first of The Go Cup Chronicle Series. She stirs up trouble but will she remain unshaken? There's no place like New Orleans to have a good crime. From the Series The New Orleans Go Cup Chronicles

After Lieutenant Commander August Micholson loses his first ship in battle, he is offered a second chance. His new mission is to take the ironclad gunboat USS James B. Eads on a mission to destroy a hidden rebel boat yard. However, there are more forces at play than the Conferate army. On the Yazoo River, the lieutenant and crew become involved with a slave and his master who planning to use African fire spirits to destroy the Federal armies. Micholson must choose between saving the lives of every American or merging his soul with a demon.