A Tony Boudreaux Mystery
15 total works
Exhausted after weeks of struggling to break the enigmatic code leading to the discovery of the Piri Reis map, Tony Boudreaux was looking forward to the simple assignment of running down a missing man. A few days after locating Justin Chester and escorting him back to Austin, Tony is stunned to learn Chester has been killed in a freak auto accident. Chester's sister once again hires Tony to investigate. His investigation leads him back through a century of rural intrigue involving the myth of a crashed spaceship and the burial of its other-worldly pilot. Tony is skeptical about the town's rumored extraterrestrial encounter. His suspicions are confirmed when his search of the burial site turns up evidence of an unsolved twenty-year-old murder.
When Tony Boudreaux agrees to help his ex-girlfriend Debbie Edwards Reeves find her father, he gets more than he bargained for. Reeves has vanished after being accused of masterminding a half-million-dollar armored car heist, and Boudreaux’s search leads him through the shadowy back alleys of Austin and up to the snow-covered peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, north of Santa Fe.
To make matters worse, right in the middle of his investigation involving the convoluted world of psychics, illegal gambling, and grand theft, his troubles are compounded when his old man is arrested for the murder of a back alley wino. In the midst of it all, Janice Coffman-Morrison, Tony’s significant other, wants to talk marriage.
Will there be enough in Tony Boudreaux to solve the predicaments of everyone around him and still have something left to help himself?
To make matters worse, right in the middle of his investigation involving the convoluted world of psychics, illegal gambling, and grand theft, his troubles are compounded when his old man is arrested for the murder of a back alley wino. In the midst of it all, Janice Coffman-Morrison, Tony’s significant other, wants to talk marriage.
Will there be enough in Tony Boudreaux to solve the predicaments of everyone around him and still have something left to help himself?
When Jack Edney is assaulted and hospitalized in Priouxville on the banks of Ghost Bayou near Bayou Teche in Louisiana, Tony Boudreaux forgoes his long anticipated vacation to aid his best friend. He is surprised to learn that Jack’s assailants were searching for hidden diamonds, but the jewels turn out to be the least of his worries.
In his efforts to uncover who attacked Jack, Tony stumbles onto three murders the locals attributed to the mythical loup-garou, a shape-changing creature roaming the swamps. The deeper he delves into the mystery of the diamonds, the more he becomes a target himself.
His hunt for the stolen gems and those responsible for Jack’s assault take him into the chilling eighteenth-century culture of backwater swamps, the unholy mysteries of New Orleans, and the furtive backroom schemes of local politics. As if he didn’t have his hands full already, he is forced to take his ex-wife, Diane, who is married to Jack, under his wing for her own safety.
In his efforts to uncover who attacked Jack, Tony stumbles onto three murders the locals attributed to the mythical loup-garou, a shape-changing creature roaming the swamps. The deeper he delves into the mystery of the diamonds, the more he becomes a target himself.
His hunt for the stolen gems and those responsible for Jack’s assault take him into the chilling eighteenth-century culture of backwater swamps, the unholy mysteries of New Orleans, and the furtive backroom schemes of local politics. As if he didn’t have his hands full already, he is forced to take his ex-wife, Diane, who is married to Jack, under his wing for her own safety.
A Melungeon beauty, the sister of an old boyhood chum, comes to private eye Tony Boudreaux, hoping he can help clear her brother’s name. Tony takes the case out of a sense of loyalty but has no idea that the trail will lead to the underbelly of smuggling and drugs in the seamy intrigue of New Orleans’s gangland and to the man responsible for the professional execution of his young cousin several months earlier. Forced to go undercover, Tony fashions a cover story that will usher him into the confidence of Bones Guilbeaux, the cold-eyed leader of a diabolical band of smugglers who kill without compunction. His pursuit of the killer leads him through a labyrinth of dark halls, hidden courtyards, secret rooms, and narrow passages where he frantically tries to stay one step ahead of those he pursues.
Tony Boudreaux needed a rest. So when his lady friend, Janice, insists he escort her to the annual reception at the Chalk Hills Distillery, he immediately refuses. Her aunt, Beatrice Morrison, is the CEO of Chalk Hills and is anxious to host a lavish event to drive her company stock even higher. She's also insufferably snobbish. However, when one of her workers ends up dead, chopped to pieces under one of the large field tractors, she takes a shine to Tony. She hires him to prove that this is an accident, not a murder. Her request strikes Tony as very odd, as usually evidence is needed to prove a murder, not an accident. Intrigued, he agrees to look into it. At first the death does seem like an accident. But the more Tony digs, the more suspicious this accident becomes. With the local sheriff on his back, El Nino causing crazy weather, and Mrs. Morrison breathing down his neck, Tony becomes determined to get to the bottom of the mystery - regardless of the verdict.
After months of stumbling through catacombs beneath a New Orleans cemetery, evading alligators at Bayou Teche, dodging a band of fanatics searching for an ancient crystal skull, and tracking down the torch man of two clubs on Austin’s Sixth Street, Tony Boudreaux wants a rest. So when a San Antonio client offers a ten-thousand-dollar retainer to find a priceless map hidden in his deceased father’s den, Tony takes the job.
To his dismay, the simple task of finding a hidden map explodes into a series of attempts on his life and two murders with over half a dozen suspects, all of whom stand to gain from the map, which is rumored to have been ancient even in the time of Alexander the Great.
To his dismay, the simple task of finding a hidden map explodes into a series of attempts on his life and two murders with over half a dozen suspects, all of whom stand to gain from the map, which is rumored to have been ancient even in the time of Alexander the Great.
When Private Investigator Tony Boudreaux agreed to drive an injured Jack Edney five hundred miles to Vicksburg, Mississippi for his father’s funeral, Tony had no way of knowing that he would go through the nine lives of a cat before his visit to the historic city ended. When Jack asked Tony to look into his father’s alleged accident, Tony found himself caught up in a devious scheme to defraud the dead man’s family of twelve million dollars. Faced with a medical examiner’s report that wouldn’t have passed the scrutiny of a second-grader and a bizarre family that epitomizes dysfunction, Tony quickly realizes that the elder Edney had indeed been murdered. After a falling bag of cement narrowly misses him, Tony assumes the near fatal incident was just an accident, but when several more “accidents” jeopardize his life, he realizes that someone either wants him off the case or to be a guest at his own funeral. Can Tony find the killer before his own nine lives are up? Read this exciting new mystery from Kent Conwell to find out.
Tony Boudreaux’s family had a saying that “good things happen in threes.”
However, instead of three days of rich Cajun food, dancing, and laughing over old times at his family reunion at Whiskey Bend in the middle of the Atchafalaya Swamp, Tony Boudreaux faces trouble. Tony and his family find themselves not only cut off from the rest of the world by Belle, a Category Three hurricane, but also confronted with voodoo wangas, an angry family trying to lynch one of its own and a psychotic killer who has decided to double the Boudreaux and Thibodeaux populations in the family cemetery.
And by the most unique methods.
Which means Tony has to work quickly…before the hurricane strikes and before the murderer kills again.
However, instead of three days of rich Cajun food, dancing, and laughing over old times at his family reunion at Whiskey Bend in the middle of the Atchafalaya Swamp, Tony Boudreaux faces trouble. Tony and his family find themselves not only cut off from the rest of the world by Belle, a Category Three hurricane, but also confronted with voodoo wangas, an angry family trying to lynch one of its own and a psychotic killer who has decided to double the Boudreaux and Thibodeaux populations in the family cemetery.
And by the most unique methods.
Which means Tony has to work quickly…before the hurricane strikes and before the murderer kills again.
In order to secure an eight million dollar insurance claim for Frances Holderman, all Tony Boudreaux had to do was prove to Universal Life Insurance Company that his client was not responsible for the death of her husband, a local school district superintendent.
What should have been a simple matter of confirming her alibi exploded in his face, leading Tony into a maze of suspects, each of which had his own reasons for murdering the superintendent; a tangle of faculty indiscretions, and the hidden world of high school drugs.
To further complicate the investigation, Tony's nephew, Stewart Thibodeaux, breezed into Austin with lofty dreams of becoming a drug lord, only to wind up on the wrong end of an executioner's bullet.
What should have been a simple matter of confirming her alibi exploded in his face, leading Tony into a maze of suspects, each of which had his own reasons for murdering the superintendent; a tangle of faculty indiscretions, and the hidden world of high school drugs.
To further complicate the investigation, Tony's nephew, Stewart Thibodeaux, breezed into Austin with lofty dreams of becoming a drug lord, only to wind up on the wrong end of an executioner's bullet.
After a few harrowing months of stumbling through catacombs beneath a New Orleans cemetery, evading alligators at Bayou Teche, and dodging a band of fanatics searching for a crystal skull and torching rap clubs, Tony Boudreaux figures he deserves a rest. So when a San Antonio client offers a ten thousand dollar retainer to find a priceless map hidden in his deceased father’s den, Tony takes the job. He enjoys the ambience of the city and the exotic venue of the River Walk.
To his dismay, the simple task of finding a hidden map explodes into a series of attempts on his life and two murders with over a half dozen suspects, all of whom stood to gain from the map rumored to have been ancient even in the time of Alexander the Great.
To his dismay, the simple task of finding a hidden map explodes into a series of attempts on his life and two murders with over a half dozen suspects, all of whom stood to gain from the map rumored to have been ancient even in the time of Alexander the Great.
Even as a child listening to the hushed, fearful stories told around dying fires of the loup garous that prowled the Louisiana prairies and ghosted through dark swamps, Tony Boudreaux always viewed them with the skepticism of an enlightened individual. Cauchemars turning living creatures, both human and animal, into supernatural beings was the fodder of middle age ignorance.
But when the body of a prominent banker is discovered in the belly of a sixteen-foot alligator and Tony agrees to look into the incident, death latches onto his scent like a cottonmouth water moccasin stalking a wounded swamp rabbit.
Deep in the dark bayou, surrounded by bellowing alligators, Tony learns the truth he hated to admit while trying to unravel the mystery of the banker’s murder.
But when the body of a prominent banker is discovered in the belly of a sixteen-foot alligator and Tony agrees to look into the incident, death latches onto his scent like a cottonmouth water moccasin stalking a wounded swamp rabbit.
Deep in the dark bayou, surrounded by bellowing alligators, Tony learns the truth he hated to admit while trying to unravel the mystery of the banker’s murder.
Tony Boudreaux has only seven days to solve a ten-year-old murder and keep Bobby Packard from the needle. What he quickly discovers is that ominous forces exist that don't want Packard saved--forces that will go to any lengths to make sure Tony fails.
Those seven days are the longest of Tony's life---an interminable potpourri filled with a Significant Other who wants to play detective, an ex-wife who shows up in town, a millionaire friend soliciting his help to run for City Hall, the appearance of his old man who had stolen his laptop at their family reunion, a testy mob underboss, secretive Chinese Tongs and Triads, grave robbing, and a corpse that vanishes.
Those seven days are the longest of Tony's life---an interminable potpourri filled with a Significant Other who wants to play detective, an ex-wife who shows up in town, a millionaire friend soliciting his help to run for City Hall, the appearance of his old man who had stolen his laptop at their family reunion, a testy mob underboss, secretive Chinese Tongs and Triads, grave robbing, and a corpse that vanishes.
It should’ve been an easy job for a private investigator—housesit some cats for a couple weeks and rake in a few thousand bucks thanks to their eccentric owner’s bottomless bank account. Practically a vacation. At least, that’s what Tony Boudreaux figures until he finds himself trying to herd a veritable horde of cats, navigate a sprawling mansion with hidden tunnels, and deal with an eccentric staff who all harbor their own secrets. And that’s before the murder…
After witnessing a homicide on his first night on the job, Tony soon finds himself fending off attempts on his own life, unraveling a massive drug-dealing ring, and dealing with the not-entirely-unwanted attentions of a spoiled heiress—all while keeping the mansion’s many feline inhabitants alive and well.
Now Tony must dig up clues on a fifteen-year-old murder mystery and determine what it has to do with the recent death. And the cats themselves may be his only chance of getting out of this deadly predicament alive.
After witnessing a homicide on his first night on the job, Tony soon finds himself fending off attempts on his own life, unraveling a massive drug-dealing ring, and dealing with the not-entirely-unwanted attentions of a spoiled heiress—all while keeping the mansion’s many feline inhabitants alive and well.
Now Tony must dig up clues on a fifteen-year-old murder mystery and determine what it has to do with the recent death. And the cats themselves may be his only chance of getting out of this deadly predicament alive.