The Alex Boyd Thriller Series. Crescent City Carnage BOOK SIX 

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The Author

Mel Harrison is an American author from The Villages in Florida where he presently lives with his wife Irene to whom he has been married to for some considerable time. He spent twenty-eight years working for the U.S. Department of State. Most of his career years were spent working in the Diplomatic Security Service, he was assigned to the embassies in Saigon, Quito, Rome. London(twice). Seoul and Islamabad. While serving at the various embassies he worked as a Regional Security Officer (RSO) a special agent of the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) responsible for regional security at that those sites. In acknowledgement of his outstanding achievements in his field of high sensitivity he was awarded the department’s Award of Valour and the worldwide RSO of the year award.

Prior to joining the U.S. Foreign Service, he graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in Economics, followed by post graduate work at The American University. The Department of State assigned him to the NATO Defence College in Rome for Political-Military studies. Did Mel enjoy his time the various embassies, most definitely! In fact, when you look at his books, they are all based on his experiences at the time of his watch while working in those countries. The stories and characters have been modified somewhat for diplomatic reasons. On all his overseas assignments his wife Irene accompanied him as she followed her own diplomatic career at the embassies albeit working in a slightly different field of diplomatic expertise.

Life after being a special agent for the U.S. State Dept saw Mel working in corporate security or consulting work for ten years, this work very often entailed trips to Latin America and The Middle East, something he equally enjoyed in addition to his world of security and counter-espionage.

Mel has written six books in the Alex Boyd Thriller series so far, but for the purpose of this podcast interview we’re mainly focusing on his latest Book ‘Crescent City Carnage.’ However, you can click the Amazon Links below of the other five books that make up the series to see what they are about.

The Book

Crescent City Carnage

There are fifty-three heart-pounding chapters to keep you the reader engrossed for days as Mel Harrison takes you on another spine-tingling, topsy-turvy, high -action thriller ride through the streets of New Orleans and elsewhere. 

Alex Boyd and Rachel Smith are on their long-awaited annual leave and have chosen to visit their friend and colleague Simone Ardoin in New Orleans in the U.S. State of Louisiana. What’s Simone got herself into here hmm…! Simone’s callous murder has left her well-connected parents traumatised. They turn to Alex and Rachel to work alongside the NOPD to flush out who’s behind this act of barbarism.

The city of course is synonymous with its Laissez-Faire perspective on life and corruption. However, having agreed to give moral support to Simone’s parents Alex and Rachel set out with NOPD to expose who’s responsible for Simone’s death and the circumstances leading up to her murder. Alex ascertains full support from the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Office in New Orleans. Pointing the finger and identifying the killer is one thing, tracking and finding them is a whole different ball game, and is proving to be far trickier than expected. Does the killer have inside sources to assist them from being easily apprehended, plus enabling them to outsmart the NOPD at every turn? Maybe!  The more the story develops the more Mel Harrison twists and weaves a spiders-web of hot and cold trails.  What Alex and Rachel discover is that New Orleans’ streets and communities have their own unwritten codes of law and are very reluctant to break them. But crack them, they must if they want to get to the bottom of what’s going on here and catch who’s responsible for Simone’s demise. The clock is ticking. Some holiday this has turned out to be for Alex and Rachel.

Here’s a look at our video chat:

Characters and Acronyms

U.S. State Department

DS: Diplomatic Security Service, US Department of State
RSO: Regional Security Officer, Diplomatic Security
Alex Boyd- Special Agent, Diplomatic Security Service, Regional Security Officer U.S. Embassy London
Rachel Smith- Political Counsellor U.S. Embassy London
Simone Ardoin- Office of Italian Affairs U.S. Department of State Washington D.C.
Susan Witt- Special Agent/ Agent-in-Charge of DS Resident Agency New Orleans
Scott Fellows- DS Special Agent New Orleans
Pete Fong DS Special Agent New Orleans
Isabelle Lewis- DS Special Agent Houston Field Office
Jim Riley – Director, Diplomatic Security Washington D.C.
Tommy Rogers- RSO U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince Haiti
Luis Torres -DS Special Agent New Orleans
Burt Warner- DS Special Agent Houston Field Office

New Orleans

NOPD-New Orleans Police Dept
DEA-Drug Enforcement Administration U.S. Government
Edouard ‘Papa Ed’ Ardoin – Simone’s father and founder of his law firm
Camille Ardoin- Medical doctor, Simone’s mother and wife of Papa Ed
Jules Baptiste- Haitian born gang leader living in New Orleans
Vern Borelon- Regional Director New Orleans Drug Enforcement Agency
Destiny- Girlfriend of Jules Baptiste
Detective ‘Fast Tim’ Kelly – Detective New Orleans Police Department (NOPD)
Janet ‘Mon Glow’ Ross- Local Resident, tattoo artist and partner of Billy Whiteman
Claude Toussaint- Criminal, works for Jules Baptiste
Captain Jim Wells- NOPD friend of Papa Ed Ardoin
Sgt. John Washington- NOPD detective
Bill Westbrook- FBI Special Agent in charge of New Orleans office
Billy Whiteman- Local resident, graphic artist, boyfriend of Moon Glow

NorthShore New Orleans

Billy Landry- Sheriff St Tammany Parish
Vinnie Fiore- Deputy St Tammany Parish

List of Chapters discussed in this podcast

Chapter 3: Playing with Fire
Chapter 6: Condolences
Chapter 11: A Celebration of Life
Chapter 15: Break in the Case
Chapter 22: The Trap
Chapter 31: Witness Protection
Chapter 37: Undercover
Chapter 44: Shocking Developments
Chapter 48: The Snitch 

Other Books in the Series

Death in Pakistan (Book One)

The Ambassador is Missing (Book two)

Moving Target (Book Three)

Terror in Cairo (Book Four)

Spies Among Us (Book Five)

Social Media Sites

Https://www.linkedin.com/in/mel-harrison-b859841ba
Https://www.facebook.com/mel.harrison.7771

Awards

Spies Among Us: Indie Reader Discovery Awards – Winner 2024 Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller Winner!

Publishers

AHA Publishers: www.ahapublishers.com / search ‘Book’s we’ve published: Mel Harrison.’

Podcast info

This podcast is available to listen to on all major podcast platforms search Talking Books hosted by J T Crowley. The video is available on YouTube search Talking Books hosted by J T Crowley, and now on Roku and Amazon Fire Stick streaming devices. Download the Experts and Authors app on your Roku and Amazon Firestick device or visit: www.Expertsandauthors.tvonline and click TALKING BOOKS.

Thanks, Mel, for giving me another wonderful opportunity to talk to you about the latest book in The Alex Boyd Thriller Series. Book Six. I wish you every success with it.

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