Murder in the Garden District (Chanse MacLeod Mysteries) (28 page)

It was a long, ugly battle that lasted over a year.

Shortly thereafter, I became acquainted with the co-chair of the National Stonewall Democrats, which in turn led to me speaking at some LGBT Democratic events and eventually, serving a term on Stonewall’s board of directors. It was a lot of fun working on campaigns and helping turn the country blue in 2008; when it happened, it was enormously satisfying to know that I played a (very) small part.

When it came time to write
Murder in the Garden District,
I decided to bring out the old structure of the Warren Craddock murder and convert it from Kansas to New Orleans. With all of my experience with politics (and trust me, Louisiana politics are even more fascinating than national), I decided to make the Craddocks (now the Sheehans) a political dynasty. And while I was writing this book, Hurricane Gustav threatened New Orleans—and we all had to evacuate again. I decided to write an impending hurricane into the story, since
Murder in the Rue Chartres
only addressed the aftermath. The book was finished, and was published in late 2009. It was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award for Best Men’s Mystery, and was generally very well-received.

I hope you enjoyed it.

--Greg Herren

New Orleans, March 2012