Brian Kaufman’s Crescent City Requiem is a contemporary southern noir novel set in New Orleans.

The novel focuses on the exploits of Francis Mallory, a former college professor turned alcoholic private investigator whose troubled, traumatic past has resulted in a tendency toward self-destruction.

At the novel’s commencement, Mallory is tasked with finding a seemingly mythical blues record for a wealthy client. According to music lore, the record is the only recording ever committed to vinyl by legendary blues guitarist and Robert Johnson mentor, Ike Zimmerman. To add to the record’s mystique, it’s reputed to be haunted, allegedly triggering suicidal tendencies in anyone foolhardy enough to listen to it.

Fuelled by his own obsession with the blues and the promise of a decent payday, Mallory accepts the case and sets out to locate the record with the help of his newly employed receptionist Grace Carlson. As the novel progresses, Mallory finds himself entangled in an increasingly intricate web of immorality, struggling to overcome the criminal and supernatural forces aligning against him, as well as his own psychological demons.

Set against the colorful backdrop of New Orleans and featuring numerous references to the city’s cultural, musical, occult and racial heritage, Crescent City Requiem is a moody, morally uncertain, cynical, and disturbing noir mystery. Touching on themes of obsession, trauma, racism, institutional corruption, and cultural appropriation, the novel is thoughtfully paced, gothic-horror-infused noir that doesn’t stint on the violence and psychological trauma emblematic of the genre.

Benefitting enormously from a bleak, tough prose style and a rigorous approach to characterization throughout, the story is populated by a host of flawed, interesting personalities. These include Mallory, instantly recognizable as the hardboiled archetypical protagonist, and youthful goth receptionist-turned-detective’s-apprentice, Grace.

While some readers might find Crescent City Requiem’s melancholy narrative approach and pessimistic worldview off-putting, fans of grittier, atmospheric, doom-laden crime fiction will find plenty to entertain them here.