Fiction set in South Louisiana suggestions

There are many historical novels set in old NO:

The Chess Players by Frances Keyes (about Paul Morphy)

The Iron Mistress by Paul Wellman (about Jim Bowie)

The Foxes Of Harrow by Frank Yerby

Saratoga Trunk by Edna Ferber

The Feast Of All Saints by Anne Rice

Band of Angels by Robert Penn Warren

The novels of Walker Percy and Shirley Ann Grau are mostly set in the region

and of course there's Confederacy of Dunces

There is a series of books by James Lee Burke about a Cajun detective, Dave Robicheaux....

Interview with the vampire - Anne Rice

Moviegoer- Walker Percy Pulitzer or national book award winner

Love in the Ruins-Walker Percy

All set in and around New Orleans

Check out "The Saints of Lost Things" by CH Lawler. Just finished it and it's very well done.

Also just ordered his other book "The Memory of Time" on Amazon. Dk how good it will be but if it's anything like the first, it'll be a good read.

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The Saints of Lost Things" by CH Lawler.

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So fun fact about Mr. CH Lawler. He's a Baton Rouge doctor that delivered my kid.

Haven't read his books, but I'm pretty sure my wife has. I think he has three. If anybody wants to support a local guy then check them out.

My Sunshine Away is cool read set in BR in the 80s. It has that coming of age Stand By Me and even a bit of the Stranger Things nostalgia vibe of that era.

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THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"A tantalizing mystery and a tender coming-of-age story...Unputdownable."—Oprah.com

In the summer of 1989, a Baton Rouge neighborhood best known for cookouts on sweltering summer afternoons, cauldrons of spicy crawfish, and passionate football fandom is rocked by a violent crime when fifteen-year-old Lindy Simpson—free spirit, track star, and belle of the block—is attacked late one evening near her home.

For such a close-knit community, the suspects are numerous, and the secrets hidden behind each closed door begin to unravel. Even the young teenage boy across the street, our narrator, does not escape suspicion. It is through his eyes, still haunted by heartbreak and guilt many years later, that we begin to piece together the night of Lindy’sattack and its terrible rippling consequences on the once-idyllic community.

Both an enchanting coming-of-age story and a gripping mystery, My Sunshine Away reveals the ways in which our childhoods shape us, and what happens when those childhoods end. Acutely wise and deeply honest, this is an astonishing and page-turning debut about the meaning of family, the power of memory, and our ability to forgive.

Named A Book of the Year by NPR, The Dallas Morning News, Kirkus Reviews, and Booklist

An Entertainment Weekly 'Must List' Pick

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So fun fact about Mr. CH Lawler. He's a Baton Rouge doctor that delivered my kid.

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That's pretty cool. I saw in his bio that he was a doctor. I didn't know about the 3rd book. First one was good though, so I'm glad he's got more.

Try In The Sanctuary of Outcasts by Neil White. It's technically a memoir but reads like fiction. It's about a magazine publisher from (I think) Gulfport that starts kiting checks to keep his business going and gets convicted of bank fraud. He"s sent to the federal prison at Carville, Louisiana which was housed in the same facility as the last remaining leper colony in the U.S. It's a good book and a fast read.

And, I join in those above who recommended Anne Rice. She can be inconsistent but when she is on (particularly in the first two or three Vampire books) her writing transcends genre and is as good as any.

Really great suggestions. Thanks everyone.

The Tubby Du Bonnet series by Tony Dunbar. Crime thrillers set in New Orleans