Effect on Men

By O'Neil De Noux

Two stories for the price of one. Both 2017 Derringer Award Finalists. Derringer Awards are given annually by the Short Mystery Fiction Society to recognize excellence in short mystery fiction.

Effect on Men
2017 Derringer Finalist for the “Best Long Story”

Monday, April 7, 1947, and a long cool blonde walks into New Orleans Private Eye Lucien Caye’s office. Patricia Ruxton is a Lana Turner lookalike. Her angry, rich husband is with her. The job – retrieve letters and pictures from Mrs. Ruxton’s former boyfriend. Locating the former boyfriend isn’t hard, he works at a nearby gas station. First problem – he’s a disabled veteran. Second problem – he isn’t giving the pictures and letters back. He still loves Patricia.

Patricia understands. She has Lucien arrange a tearful meeting where Patricia decides her old boyfriend can keep the pictures and letters. She explains she has an effect on men. Not just some men, but all men. Lucien feels it as well – the magnetic attraction.

Is she coming on to Lucien? He wonders as he gets a late night call. The former boyfriend is dead and his place is ransacked. Is it suicide or did the angry husband kill him or is it something else entirely?

Lagniappe – a little extra.

A Just Reward
2017 Derringer Finalist for “Best Flash Story”

A stranger comes into the small town sheriff’s office with information that leads to the recovery of a stolen statue. He understands there’s a reward. There’s a problem, however.

• Language: English
• Publisher: O'Neil De Noux
• Release date: May 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370030590

O'Neil De Noux

O’Neil De Noux writes in many genres, primarily realistic crime fiction, strong on setting, mostly New Orleans, featuring the accurate dialogue of the streets. He also writes scintillating erotica. His publishing credits include 20 novels, nine short story collections and over 300 short stories. From contemporary to historical, De Noux uses several recurring characters in his New Orleans stories and novels: NOPD Homicide Detective John Raven Beau (21st Century); NOPD Homicide Detective LaStanza (20th Century); Private-eye Lucien Caye (1940s) and NOPD Detective Jacques Dugas (1890s). A primary theme in De Noux’s fiction is the effect of violence on victims and their families as well as the sometimes debilitating effect of violence on law enforcement officers, private-eyes and their loved ones. As a former private-eye and currently a police investigator, De Noux knows his subject well. De Noux’s stories span from mystery to mainstream, literary, suspense, thriller, science-fiction, fantasy, horror, erotica, humor, westerns, children’s fiction as well as cross-genre stories – erotic-detective, science-fiction mysteries and the like. O’Neil De Noux’s “The Heart Has Reasons” (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, September 2006) won the Private Eye Writers of America’s prestigious SHAMUS AWARD for BEST SHORT STORY 2007. The SHAMUS is given annually to recognize outstanding achievement in private eye fiction. In 2009, the Short Mystery Fiction Society awarded the Derringer Award for Best Novelette to another Lucien Caye story, “Too Wise” by O’Neil De Noux (which appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine’s November 2008 Issue). The Derringer Award is given annually to recognize excellence in the mystery short form. In June 2012, De Noux’s novel JOHN RAVEN BEAU was named 2011 POLICE BOOK OF THE YEAR by Police-Writers.com, a group that boasts of 1153 state and local law enforcement officials from 485 state and local law enforcement agencies who have written 2504 police books. A hyper-realistic crime story, JOHN RAVEN BEAU provides an intimate look into the beleaguered NOPD Homicide Division, a story that begins in the French Quarter and ends in a swamp, all within the city limits of America’s eternal city, a city that cannot be destroyed – New Orleans. A second Beau novel was released in 2013 – CITY OF SECRETS. Books by O’Neil De Noux (all available as eBooks and trade paperbacks). Go to www.oneildenoux.net for links.

Book preview

Cover Copyright 2018 O’Neil De Noux

cover model Lydia Elle

Effect on Men

Copyright 2018 O’Neil De Noux

Smashwords Edition

2017 Derringer Award Finalist for Best Long Story

for the girl who came down the stairs

Effect on Men

I thought Lana Turner had walked into my office, only Lana wasn’t that pretty.

It was eleven a.m. exactly, Monday, April 7, 1947, when Patricia Ruxton came into my life. A long, cool blonde wearing a sleek, navy blue skirt-suit, matching heels and a body that made me sit up behind my desk and pretend I couldn’t feel the sudden constriction in my chest. The detective in me listed her vitals: early twenties, five-ten, looking taller in heels, yellow-blonde hair in long curls — and that incredible face.

I quickly added the vitals of the scowling man who followed her in: late-thirties, six-three, light brown hair cut in a Marine Corps flat-top. His gravely voice matched his harsh face. Are you the detective?

Lucien Caye, I stood, extending my hand, forcing myself not to look at her.

Waldo Ruxton, he said, ignoring my hand as he sat in one of the two chairs in front of my desk. He didn’t bother holding the chair for her. She sat in the other and crossed her legs, black purse held in her lap.

This is Mrs. Ruxton, he said, which gave me the excuse to look again at that perfectly symmetrical face, the finely-sculptured lips and blue eyes, sapphire blue with a hint of purple. She stared back into my eyes with such a look of … innocence, it was disarming.

I’m Ruxton Shipping, Waldo went on. He slid a business card across my desk, then leaned back in