All Things Must Pass : Historical Fiction Podcast

It’s 1920 New Orleans and Jesse Pike is slowly ascending the New Orleans upper-class social scene. He’s the owner of the most popular brothel in the entire city, and rubs shoulders with businessmen, corrupt politicians, and stage stars alike. He’s also the leader of a violent street gang that pulls off the biggest heist of liquor since the beginning of prohibition. Jesse sets up a scheme to sell the booze, and use the profits to help him start a legitimate business. However, several obstacles get in his way: Clyde, the mentally disturbed oldest Pike sibling, is released from prison and takes issue with how Jesse runs things; Jesse's aging mentor refuses to let him leave behind crime; and an overzealous young DA decides to reopen an investigation into the liquor heist to increase his chances of being elected mayor. Jesse is forced to make a decision: does he walk away from a life of crime and his family forever? Or will he continue down the road of violence that has begun to erode his psyche, much as it has Clyde's?

The Pike Boys, according to a reviewer, is a "compelling story of the Pike family's struggles against poverty, violence, substance abuse, mental illness, and their quest to rise above it all while living in the crime-ridden New Orleans of the gangster era." It has all the thrills, plot twists, and quick pace of conventional gangster fiction, with the heart, depth, and nuance of a literary novel. In between the shootouts, violence, and debauchery, there is the overarching question of "can people actually change?" The reader will see that the answer is not so simple—especially when you live in a place like New Orleans.

(Good for fans of Mario Puzo and Dennis Lehane; and lovers of Sopranos, Godfather, and Peaky Blinders!)

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When the bell tolls midnight, it’ll be 1968.

Royce Pembrook is living well in a new city, with new patrons, a new name, and a new trade. But he’s the same scam artist he’s been for thirty years. Since youth, Royce has made his money and found trouble in fraudulent séances that prey on the grieving widows of high society. Now he’s expanded his con, posing as a hypnotist, a Svengali, swindling everyone in Phoenix from scions of old wealth to a UFO cult led by a heroin-addicted visionary.

Life is good. Royce has the luxury he craves. And that’s when trouble out of the past creeps into his world. Even in the domain of fake spirits, the relentless specter of murder is real, and Royce’s former life is one thing that won’t stay in the grave.

When the bell tolls midnight for Royce Pembrook, will it be time to abscond? Or will he fight to keep all that he’s gained, no matter the violent cost to those around him?

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Based on a true crime, The Younger Girl, by trailblazing, award-winning writer Georgia Jeffries combines historical fiction and supernatural suspense to unravel a thrilling tale of family deception and long-denied redemption.

In 1933, Chicago tabloids trumpeted the death of twenty-year-old town belle Aldine Younger.

"HEIRESS SLAIN, MARRIED MAN HELD."

In the aftermath of Aldine Younger's tragic death, her grieving brother Owen suspects that their wealthy uncle orchestrated a sinister murder plot to cover up the theft of Aldine's inheritance. Fast forward to 1996, when an aging Owen, burdened by the weight of the past, is compelled to discover the truth before he dies. His daughter, Joanna, becomes the key to unraveling the family's twisted history.

Father and daughter journey back to Pontiac, Illinois, to claim Owen's rightful bequest. They find themselves caught in a labyrinth of lies born of family greed and treachery crossing three generations. Amidst violent storms and dramatic revelations, Owen's sanity teeters on the edge as he confuses Joanna with the sister he lost. Joanna, racing against time, unearths secrets that could shatter her world and discovers a psychic bridge linking past, present, and future. But at what cost? And who will survive the revelations?

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When burglars break into Hope Mausoleum and violate Crypt 1083-A, where the remains of the former Girod Street Cemetery are housed, New Orleans property crimes detective Thibodeaux “Bo” Duplessis is confronted with three confounding questions: Who are the burglars? Why did they break into the crypt? What, if anything, did they take?

In need of expertise he does not possess, Bo turns to his childhood friend Bruneau Abellard, a cranky, overweight antiques dealer with exacting epicurean standards and a font of historical knowledge. Affecting annoyance, though privately intrigued, Bruneau agrees to assist with Bo’s case. Together, the friends uncover a secret love affair between a famous antebellum actress, whose remains are contained in the crypt, and the notorious pirate Jean Lafitte. As their investigation deepens, they find themselves confronting two separate yet entwined mysteries, two hundred years apart. To solve the present-day crime, they come to realize they must first unravel a conundrum from the distant, murky past.

Set against the singular backdrop of contemporary New Orleans, with glimpses of the city during its “Belle Epoque” of the 1820s, The Lafitte Affair is populated with characters as eccentric as the city itself: a grand dame of the Garden District; a competitive female puzzler; a slippery con man; a giant hermit with a shrouded past; a pugnacious French bulldog; and a phantom thief who seems always two steps ahead of his pursuers. Looming over them all is the ghostly presence of the pirate Lafitte, a larger-than-life figure of seemingly endless contradictions.

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