Jay Desmarteaux is a drifter ex-con born from southern Louisiana who stars in several short stories and my upcoming novel, Bad Boy Boogie/em>, from Down & Out Books. Jay spent 25 years in prison for killing the school bully, and became a mechanic, bare-knuckle brawler and thief while he languished in Rahway Prison. His background is murky, and he seeks out those who wronged his folks, and him as a child, as he tries to find his way in a selfish and inhospitable world.

Jay appears in:

“The Rockridge Ringer,” in Our Lady of Vengeance: 13 Dishes Served Cold.¹

“Gumbo Weather,” in Needle: A Magazine of Noir Fall/Winter 2012.¹

“Kamikaze Death Burgers at the Ghost Town Cafe,” in Feeding Kate² (all proceeds benefit the Lupus Foundation)

Steel Heart: 10 Tales of Crime & Suspense  (“Gumbo Weather” and “Kamikaze Death Burgers” are in the collection)

Bad Boy Boogie, from Down & Out Books in 2017:

When Jay Desmarteaux walked out the gates of Rahway Prison, the sun hit his face like air on a fresh wound. The breeze smelled different, charged somehow. He had spent twenty-five years as a monk locked inside a dank Shaolin temple dedicated to violence and human predation, while the men who put him there lived free from fear.

Men who needed killing.

When Jay Desmarteaux walks out of prison after serving 25 years for the murder of a vicious bully, he seeks his family and follows the advice of his convict mentor: the best revenge is living well.

But old friends want him to disappear, and new enemies want him dead. With his wits and fists, Jay unravels a twisted tale of small town secrets and good old New Jersey corruption.

next:

Fortunate Son

Hate Machine

Texas Red

¹  Occurs after the events in Bad Boy Boogie
² Occurs after the events in Hate Machine