Retired army captain, Gabe Jordan, opens the series on a bench at a gator and snake swarmed bayou edge behind his hospice in Carencro, Louisiana. This ribboned (Korea and Vietnam) – a black Creole, pushing 80 was given one month to live two months before. He sat awaiting his fate when the illiterate, Cajun French fisher and the hospice’s lawn boy, Boudreaux Clemont Finch ambled by looked him in the eyes and took pity. The boy’s age, best guess, seventeen at the time, went by the name of Peck. Peck and Gabe spoke of Gabe’s last wish—to watch a Newport Jazz Festival one more time before he died. Peck didn’t start his mower that day—instead he snuck Gabe (and his pain pills) past the nurses and out of the hospice with a promise of getting him to the Newport Jazz Festival. He got lost the first night, winding them up in New Orleans on Frenchman Street near the French Quarter. Making the best of their situation, they ate $3 bowls of red beans and rice, listened to free jazz and happened to meet two of the most colorful lady characters ever written on a page—Sasha and Lily Cup—and that’s saying a lot—but asserted by book reviewers. Jackson Square, Frenchman Street, red beans and rice and jazz from a wailing alto sax, Gabe, Sasha, Lily Cup and Peck become the branch limbs of this mighty moss-webbed Cypress that drips with character and an edge only found in Acadiana.

Two novels—ONE MORE LAST DANCE and THE HOODOO OF PECK FINCH—start the party rolling.

In the next two novels—PECK FINCH and THE HANGED MAN (a dark, accurate mystery about human trafficking) and PECK FINCH and the EIGHT OF SWORDS (a mystery about kidnapping)—the now literate, book a week reading Peck Finch investigations become page turner mysteries using characters and places already established. Jerome Mark Antil spent a full year researching in an Orleans Criminal Court observing trials and tribulations – studying local cultures both day and late into the nights of the Pelican City. Each mystery novel uses integrity of the real New Orleans, its soul and heart. Every mystery would begin with the continuity of routine—Peck’s self-reflection and contemplation while standing at Jackson Square before attending Mass at the Cathedral-Basilica of Saint Louis. Evening’s he would go to Frenchman Street and get advice from his friends, Gabe, Sasha and Lily Cup. He’d dance jazz between spoonsful of beans and rice.

Jerome Mark Antil’s book sales start to climb—especially in France, UK, Ireland, Germany and Holland.

Is there a coincidence between PECK FINCH novel’s climbing in sales in Europe and what was about to happen in one week in December of 2022?

What happened was that President Emmanuel Macron of France telephoned Mayor LaToya Cantrell of New Orleans—the first woman EVER to be elected to run the world’s most character and custom rich city–and he tells her he wanted to visit New Orleans—meet her at Jackson Square on December 2, and walk with her on Frenchman Street and see the jazz clubs.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell happily extended a warm invitation to the president and was at Jackson Square waiting his arrival as promised. Together they walked through the French Quarter to Frenchman Street and there they listened to jazz.
The president of France visit was as celebrated by locals as would be an impromptu Mardi Gras parade. One week to the day, on December 9, 2022 was it any coincidence that author Jerome Mark Antil would receive the official CERTIFICATE OF RECOGNITION from Mayor LaToya Cantrell for his literary contributions to the preservation of the culture and history of one of the most famous, most celebrated cities (besides President Macron’s Paris) on earth?