'Murder in the Rue Dauphine' by Greg Herren
- Reed
- Oct 30
- 3 min read
Author: Greg Herren
Rating: B+
Vibe: A solid mystery with a great sense of place and a compelling plot—perfect for thriller lovers who want a gay protagonist without the story being about being gay.
Chanse MacLeod left the New Orleans Police Department to avoid exactly this: standing over a dead body in the French Quarter heat, wondering who wanted his client dead and why. Mike Hansen hired him to find a blackmailer threatening his closeted, married lover. Fifty grand to track down some opportunist squeezing Uptown money—easy work. Before Chanse could follow the first lead, Mike turned up murdered on Rue Dauphine in what everyone's calling a hate crime. Everyone except Chanse. And the deeper he digs into New Orleans's world of call boys, wealthy closet cases, and opportunistic activists, the more he realizes this wasn't about homophobia—it was about money, secrets, and someone willing to kill to keep them buried.
Greg Herren's debut in the Chanse MacLeod series is a tight, entertaining read with enough New Orleans atmosphere to make you crave a Hurricane and enough twists to keep you guessing. It's not reinventing the genre, but it doesn't need to—this is gay noir done well, with a likable protagonist and a story that moves.
Chanse is a great protagonist. He's a former college football player and ex-cop who now specializes in business security work, and he's sharp, grounded, and refreshingly normal. This isn't a tortured detective drowning in existential angst—he's a guy doing his job, navigating relationships, and trying not to get killed. There's enough personality to keep him intriguing without the book becoming a deep psychological study, which honestly? I appreciated. Sometimes I don't need a character's entire inner world excavated. I just want someone competent and compelling to follow through a mystery. Chanse delivers.
The sense of place is fabulous. Herren clearly knows New Orleans, and it shows. The bar names, the street names, the weather, the accents—it all feels lived-in and authentic. I've been to New Orleans a handful of times, and reading this felt like revisiting in the best way.
The plot is compelling, and the twist at the end was decent. I won't spoil it, but I will say I didn't see it coming—and when it landed, it worked. That said, I wanted a bit more cleverness in the setup. The kind of mystery where after the big reveal, you can flip back and think, "Oh yeah, that was the clue." There are moments like that here, but the foreshadowing could've been sharper. The dialogue, too, could've flowed more naturally. Some exchanges felt a little stiff or exposition-heavy, which pulled me out of the rhythm.
What I appreciated most is that Murder in the Rue Dauphine balances being a mystery and being a story about a gay man navigating his world. Chanse's sexuality isn't the plot—it's just part of who he is. He's a gay private investigator in a gay-friendly city, dealing with cases that sometimes involve the gay community. It's refreshing to read a thriller where being gay isn't the source of conflict—just a fact of life.
If you're a mystery or thriller lover looking for a fun, fast-paced read with a likable gay protagonist and a strong sense of place, this is a solid pick. It's not perfect—but it's a damn good time. I'd give it a strong B+, and I'm already eyeing the rest of the series.
