13½


Nevada Barr - 2009
    No stranger to tragedy, Polly was a runaway at the age of fifteen, escaping a nightmarish Mississippi childhood.Lonely, that is, until she encounters architect Marshall Marchand. Polly is immediately smitten. She finds him attractive, charming, and intelligent. Marshall, a lifelong bachelor, spends most of his time with his brother Danny. When Polly’s two young daughters from her previous marriage are likewise taken with Marshall, she marries him. However, as Polly begins to settle into her new life, she becomes uneasy about her husband’s increasing dark moods, fearing that Danny may be influencing Marshall in ways she cannot understand.But what of the ominous prediction by a New Orleans tarot card reader, who proclaims that Polly will murder her husband? What, if any, is the Marchands' connection to the infamous "Butcher Boy" multiple homicide? And could Marshall and his eccentric brother be keeping a dark secret from Polly, one that will shatter the happiness she has forever prayed for?

Lake Effect


Rich Cohen - 2002
    Fatherless, reckless, and lower middle class in a place that wasn’t, Jamie possessed such an irresistible insouciance and charm that even the teachers called him Drew-licious. Through the high school years of parties and Cub games and girls, of summer nights on the beach and forbidden forays into the blues bars of Chicago’s notorious South Side, the two formed an inseparable bond. Even after Cohen went to college in New Orleans (Jamie went to Kansas) and then moved to New York, where he had a memorable interlude with the legendary New Yorker writer Joseph Mitchell, Jamie remained oddly crucial to his life. Exquisite and taut, Lake Effect is a bittersweet coming-of-age story that quietly bores to the essence of friendship and how it survives even as it is destined to change.

Matching Supply with Demand: An Introduction to Operations Management


Gérard Cachon - 2003
    The book demands rigorous analysis on the part of students without requiring consistent use of sophisticated mathematical modeling to perform it. When the use of quantitative tools or formal modeling is indicated, it is only to perform the necessary analysis needed to inform and support a practical business solution. The guiding principle in the development of Matching Supply with Demand has been "real operations, real solutions." "Real operations" means that most of the chapters in this book are written from the perspective of a specific company so that the material in this text will come to life by discussing it in a real-world context. "Real solutions" means that equations and models do not merely provide students with mathematical gymnastics for the sake of an intellectual exercise.

Sweetened With a Kiss


Lexxi Callahan - 2013
    Especially when his own parents raised her after her brother and parents died. Tell that to his heart. Though she accepts his proposal, she breaks it off and escapes to Paris, leaving him devastated. But she’s finally back in New Orleans and Stefan will do anything to get her back. Jen has always loved Stefan but she’s sick of being treated like a little girl. Attending pastry school in Paris was the best decision she’s ever made. She’s a woman now, and she knows what she wants—passion not pity. Stefan needs to man up if she’s going to agree to marry him. But soon she learns the best way to get Stephan to agree to her demands is to sweeten them with a kiss.Sweetened with a Kiss is a slightly steamy somewhat angsty contemporary romance set in New Orleans. Intended for mature audiences.

New Orleans (DK Eyewitness Travel Guides)


Marilyn Wood - 2002
    DK's Eyewitness Travel Guides have increasingly become the most sought after guides by seasoned and novice travels alike. Featuring up-to-date information and spectacular 3-D aerial views -- all photographed in full-color -- each location is shown at its best. Recognized as the most unique and comprehensive travel guides on the market, Eyewitness Travel Guides create the new standard for travels. Every guide in the series is updated annually. 3-D aerial maps help you make the quickest journey from one place to the next. Red star sights help you get the most out of the shortest visit. Full-color photographs are taken specifically for each travel guide, and cut-away & floor plans present unique drawings of historic buildings and museums to show exactly where you are and what you see. All the sights in each area are described in depth with special keyed icons, and there's no need to buy an A-Z guide with our fully indexed street maps. Eat and shop with confidence with our reliable listings of hotels, restaurants, bars, and shops in all areas and at all prices. When it comes to entertainment, Eyewitness Travel Guides contains complete listings of theaters, music venues, cinemas, clubs, sports facilities, and activities for children. A special survival guide shows you how to use local currency, public transportation and telephones through pictures. Before your next trip, pick up one of our best-selling Eyewitness Travel Guides today!

The Axeman's Jazz


Ray Celestin - 2014
    As a dark serial killer – The Axeman – stalks the city, three individuals set out to unmask him…Though every citizen of the ‘Big Easy’ thinks they know who could be behind the terrifying murders, Detective Lieutenant Michael Talbot, heading up the official investigation, is struggling to find leads. But Michael has a grave secret – and if he doesn’t find himself on the right track fast – it could be exposed…Former detective Luca d’Andrea has spent the last six years in Angola state penitentiary, after Michael, his protégée, blew the whistle on his corrupt behaviour. Now a newly freed man, Luca finds himself working with the mafia, whose need to solve the mystery of the Axeman is every bit as urgent as the authorities’.Meanwhile, Ida is a secretary at the Pinkerton Detective Agency.Obsessed with Sherlock Holmes and dreaming of a better life, Ida stumbles across a clue which lures her and her trumpet-playing friend, Lewis ‘Louis’ Armstrong, to the case and into terrible danger…As Michael, Luca and Ida each draw closer to discovering the killer’s identity, the Axeman himself will issue a challenge to the people of New Orleans: play jazz or risk becoming the next victim. And as the case builds to its crescendo, the sky will darken and a great storm will loom over the city…

The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder


Rebecca Wells - 2009
    The creator of the literary sensations Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Little Altars Everywhere, and Ya-Yas in Bloom delivers an unforgettable new stand-alone novel about the pull of first love, the power of home, and everyday magic. No matter if you already adore the Ya-Yas or haven’t yet entered the miraculous world of Rebecca Wells, you are going to love—and never forget—Calla Lily Ponder.

Eggnog Makes Her Easy


Erin Nicholas - 2018
    Just her and her boys while her husband serves overseas. But her blue Christmas turns merry when things start rockin’ under the mistletoe thanks to a surprise gift from her naughty Santa.

Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality


Jacob Tomsky - 2012
    Jacob Tomsky never intended to go into the hotel business. As a new college graduate, armed only with a philosophy degree and a singular lack of career direction, he became a valet parker for a large luxury hotel in New Orleans. Yet, rising fast through the ranks, he ended up working in “hospitality” for more than a decade, doing everything from supervising the housekeeping department to manning the front desk at an upscale Manhattan hotel. He’s checked you in, checked you out, separated your white panties from the white bed sheets, parked your car, tasted your room-service meals, cleaned your toilet, denied you a late checkout, given you a wake-up call, eaten M&M's out of your minibar, laughed at your jokes, and taken your money. In Heads in Beds he pulls back the curtain to expose the crazy and compelling reality of a multi-billion-dollar industry we think we know. Heads in Beds is a funny, authentic, and irreverent chronicle of the highs and lows of hotel life, told by a keenly observant insider who’s seen it all. Prepare to be amused, shocked, and amazed as he spills the unwritten code of the bellhops, the antics that go on in the valet parking garage, the housekeeping department’s dirty little secrets—not to mention the shameless activities of the guests, who are rarely on their best behavior. Prepare to be moved, too, by his candor about what it’s like to toil in a highly demanding service industry at the luxury level, where people expect to get what they pay for (and often a whole lot more). Employees are poorly paid and frequently abused by coworkers and guests alike, and maintaining a semblance of sanity is a daily challenge.Along his journey Tomsky also reveals the secrets of the industry, offering easy ways to get what you need from your hotel without any hassle. This book (and a timely proffered twenty-dollar bill) will help you score late checkouts and upgrades, get free stuff galore, and make that pay-per-view charge magically disappear. Thanks to him you’ll know how to get the very best service from any business that makes its money from putting heads in beds. Or, at the very least, you will keep the bellmen from taking your luggage into the camera-free back office and bashing it against the wall repeatedly.

Love Finds You in New Orleans, Louisiana


Christa Allan - 2012
    Ever since her parents died of yellow fever when she was two years old, Charlotte LeClerc has lived with her grandparents, who rarely speak of their son and his wife. They are on the verge of negotiating a contract with a suitor, a man Charlotte dreads, when they discover that she enjoys the company of Gabriel Girod, a young Creole man. Charlotte's future hangs in the balance as her grandparents consider whether to stop keeping secrets and reveal the truth that they've known since before Charlotte's birth, a truth that will make the difference between a life of obligation and a life of choice for Charlotte.

Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas


Rebecca Solnit - 2013
    More than twenty essays assemble a chorus of vibrant voices, including geographers, scholars of sugar and bananas, the city's remarkable musicians, prison activists, environmentalists, Arab and Native voices, and local experts, as well as the coauthors' compelling contributions. Featuring 22 full-color two-page-spread maps, Unfathomable City plumbs the depths of this major tourist destination, pivotal scene of American history and culture and, most recently, site of monumental disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill.The innovative maps' precision and specificity shift our notions of the Mississippi, the Caribbean, Mardi Gras, jazz, soils and trees, generational roots, and many other subjects, and expand our ideas of how any city is imagined and experienced. Together with the inspired texts, they show New Orleans as both an imperiled city--by erosion, crime, corruption, and sea level rise--and an ageless city that lives in music as a form of cultural resistance. Compact, lively, and completely original, Unfathomable City takes readers on a tour that will forever change the way they think about place.Read an excerpt here: Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas by Rebecca Solnit and Rebecca Snedeker by University of California PressListen to an interview with the authors here:http://www.ucpress.edu/blog/16097/new...

The King of Bones and Ashes


J.D. Horn - 2018
    While some see an inevitable end of their era, others are courting madness—willing to sacrifice former allies, friends, and family to retain the power they covet. While the other witches watch their reality unravel, young Alice Marin is using magic’s waning days to delve into the mystery of numerous disappearances in the occult circles of New Orleans. Alice disappeared once, too—caged in an asylum by blood relatives. Recently freed, she fears her family may be more involved with the growing crisis than she ever dared imagine.Yet the more she seeks the truth about her family’s troubled history, the more she realizes her already-fragile psyche may be at risk. Discovering the cause of the vanishings, though, could be the only way to escape her mother’s reach while determining the future of all witches.

The Gentleman Caller


Megan Chance - 1998
    When Garland Lafon, one of the richest men in 1850s New Orleans, offers him a proposition: his fortune in return for wooing and marrying his oldest daughter, Rosalie, Jack jumps at the opportunity. But things are never as easy as they appear, and this is no different. Rosalie Lafon intends to become a nun, and her younger sister, Corinne, is one of the most beautiful women Jack has ever seen—and it seems her sights are set on him.But Rosalie isn’t as impervious to Jack as she seems. He is everything she most fears—and desires. How exactly is she to resist this man who reminds her of everything she’s trying so hard to forget?

Unhinged


E.J. Findorff - 2011
    Not fifteen minutes later, the body of a man is found next door. The most sadistic serial killer in New Orleans history is on the prowl. He selects both a man and a woman, raping and killing them on the same night. When another woman from Deck's past is found and identified, the young detective is flooded with questions. How does this maniac know Deck? Why is the FBI deputy director sabotaging his efforts to capture the killer?And, most unsettling, who's next? As the Absinthe Killer continues to evade arrest, Deck is relieved of duty. But he's far from giving up-and, unfortunately for Deck, the FBI knows it.

Magnolia Storms


Janet W. Ferguson - 2017
    Except…she works three hours inland and rarely risks returning to her childhood hometown of Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Both her single-parent sister and the ship pilot Maggie once loved refused to leave the Coast, despite Maggie’s requests. Now a hurricane’s headed toward Mississippi, and Maggie’s sister is seriously injured, leaving Maggie little choice but to head south—into the storm. The water and tides flow through Josh Bergeron’s veins, and he can’t imagine giving up piloting—even for the love of his life, the infuriating Magnolia Marovich. He tried to move on without her, marrying and having a child. But after his wife abandons him and his little boy, his career choice is threatened by the weight of his parental responsibilities. Moving next door to Maggie’s sister and sharing their child care seems like the perfect set-up. Until Maggie blows back into town. Being forced to lean on Josh for help washes up the wreckage in Maggie’s faith. Where was God during the destruction of Katrina? Why do some prayers seem to go unanswered? Between the hurricane looming in the Gulf and another gale raging in her heart, can Maggie overcome her past and find the trust to truly live?