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You may know the cover characters, Delphine Lalaurie and Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau,from having taken a haunted tour in New Orleans, visiting the Conti Wax Museum, or watching American Horror Story on TV. Now you can discover the entire history and the best of the urban legend in this 5 star reviewed page-turner by T.R. Heinan. Here’s what readers are saying in Amazon reviews:
“Descriptions of the different types of bigotry and racial history, such as the "Code Noir", are nothing short of amazing”,
“I could not put this book down”
“I was up all night reading” “The grizzly detail of the legend, the horrific acts, and the way T.R. Heinan described them sent chills up my spine”
“The history is right on and he really brought the characters to life for his readers”

 Enter to win at http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/67089-l-immortalite-madame-lalaurie-and-the-voodoo-queen?utm_medium=email&utm_source=giveaway_approved

 

 

 

 

ANOTHER 5 STAR REVIEW ON AMAZON

Horrendous yet Uplifting, September 24, 2013

By 

Trish Jackson (Florida, US) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: L'Immortalite: Madame Lalaurie and the Voodoo Queen (Kindle Edition)

This is a fictional story woven around the true history of Delphine Lalaurie whose desire for immortality came true, as her name will always be linked to the history of New Orleans. She beat and mistreated her slaves and sanctioned her husband's gruesome experiments in the name of science. Their antebellum mansion in the French Quarter has been preserved and today is said to be one of the most haunted houses in New Orleans, where the cries of the tortured and dismembered slaves can still be heard.
The story revolves around Phillipe Bertrand, the Saint Louis Cathedral's lay sacristan and the kindly Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau, and their combined efforts to save a slave child and end the torture to the other slaves in the mansion.
The book is filled with hidden innuendo. Bertrand lives in a yellow brick house where today a yellow brick building actually exists, on Pirate's Alley, which becomes a metaphorical brick road for him. He gives the runaway slave girl Elise bread, and later pours her wine.
Marie Laveau practices voodoo but is also a regular member of the Catholic Church, and in reality, New Orleans is probably the only place in the world where the two come together today.
The story moves at a fast pace and is hard to put down.
The characters from the book are soon to be used by the hit TV series American Horror Story.

           

IS IT TRUE?

 

 Is this a true story?  That’s the question I’m asked most often when people begin to read L’immortalité: Madame Lalaurie and the Voodoo Queen.

 My account is fictionalized, in order to bring readers the very best of the history and the legend of Delphine Lalaurie and her “haunted” mansion in New Orleans.  Philippe Bertand, my protagonist in the story, is a fictional character.  Most of the rest of the “cast” are carefully researched presentations of real people who actually knew Madame Delphine.

 When, on April 10, 1834, an old slave named Arnante set fire to the Lalaurie Mansion (and to herself), the horrors of 1140 Royal Street were revealed to the public for the very first time.  Here is a contemporary newspaper account from the New Orleans Bee published the day after the fire.

Several slaves more or less horribly mutilated, were seen suspended from the neck, with their limbs apparently stretched and torn from one extremity to the other. Language is powerless and inadequate to give a proper recollection of the horror which a scene like this must have inspired. We shall not attempt it, but leave it rather to the reader's imagination to picture what it was!

    The slaves were the property of the demon in the shape of a woman whom we mentioned in the beginning of this article. They had been confined by her for several months in the situation from which they had thus been rescued and had merely been kept in existence to prolong their sufferings and to make them taste all that the most refined cruelty could inflict. But why dwell upon the particulars! We feel confident that the community share with us our indignation, and that vengeance will fall, heavily full upon the guilty culprit. Without being superstitious, we cannot but regard the manner in which these atrocities have been brought to light as an especial interposition of heaven.

 I decided to use the last line of this account in my book (page 106).  Whether the exposure of Delphine Lalaurie’s treatment of her slaves was divine intervention, or not, the event quickly became a key moment in the history of American horror.

 The story of Delphine Lalaurie has been popular since George Washington Cable published it in the 19^th Century.  Lalaurie appears on Barbara Hambly’s excellent novel Fever Season, and most recently, Carolyn Morrow Long produced Madame Lalaurie:  Mistress of the Haunted House, an outstanding non-fiction text that carefully details the history.  Another short history was published in 2011 by Victoria Cosner Lave and Lorelei Shannon.  You will find a brief synopsis of the story in the (low budget) film, The St. Francisville Experiment.  On television, the Lalaurie Mansion has been featured on Haunted History and beginning in October, Kathy Bates will portray Delphine Lalaurie on the FX series, American Horror Story.

 So, yes, Virginia, there really was a Delphine Lalaurie and she still haunts the old mansion in the French Quarter of New Orleans.  Read her legend in L’immortalité on Kindle or in trade paperback.  

http://www.amazon.com/LImmortalite-Madame-Lalaurie-Voodoo-Queen/dp/0615634710/ref=sr_1_3_title_1_pap?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377720325&sr=1-3&keywords=madame+lalaurie

Delphine Lalaurie legend now available on as e-book

“L’immortalité:  Madame Lalaurie and the Voodoo Queen” by T.R. Heinan brings NOLA horror story characters to Kindle format

 

TUCSON, Ariz. – In “L’immortalité:  Madame Lalaurie and the Voodoo Queen” (ISBN 978-1-63003-914-1), author T.R. Heinan shows the lengths people will go in the quest for immortality.  The 5 star reviewed historical fiction novel combines horror, history and humor to tell the story of New Orleans “most haunted” house.

Set in the 1830’s Creole community of New Orleans, “L’immortalite” takes readers on a journey with Philippe Bertrand, a reclusive lay sacristan who lacks compassion for others after the death of his wife and mother.  He is led to a mansion owned by Madame Delphine Lalaurie, and there, he meets a young slave named Elise.  The events that follow result in the slave’s escape, the discovery of macabre medical experiments in the mansion’s attic, and the intervention of Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau.

The paperback format of this book has been recommended by top-rated haunted tours in New Orleans and was shown at the 2013 HWA-Bram Stoker Awards weekend.  The growing popularity of book’s title characters bring thousands of New Orleans visitors each year to view “haunted” Lalaurie Mansion and the tomb of Marie Laveau.

Heinan hope readers will gain a deeper understanding of New Orleans history while enjoying the ride he takes them on through Philippe’s meditative quest for eternal life. The book is illustrated by Hollywood artist John Weston.

“L’immortalite:  Madame Lalaurie and the Voodoo Queen” is now available in Kindle format and is free to Kindle Prime users Amazon.

About the Author:

T. R. Heinan is a Minnesota native, born and raised in Duluth.  He attended Marquette University and worked as a journalist before beginning a career in investment banking specializing in the motion picture and airline industries. After retiring, Heinan has spent his time writing and serving orphaned and homeless children at a Mexican orphanage he helped to build.

New Orleans Literary Tour

  There is something about New Orleans, especially the French Quarter, that just makes you want to read…and write.  Maybe it’s the history, the music or the haunted buildings.  Maybe it’s the legacy of Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, and Anne Rice.  Whatever it is, you’re sure to feel it moving in your soul when you walk the humid, colorful streets with names like Conti, Burgundy (emphasis on “gun”) and Bourbon.  Whenever I get to NOLA, I just want to rip my shirt open, scream, “Stella!!!” and pick up a book…or a pen. 

  I just returned from the Horror Writers Convention/Bram Stoker Awards at NOLA’s Hotel Monteleone.  What could be more fun than selling a book about Royal Street than actually doing it on Royal Street?  Even better than signing books, were my slow walks around the Quarter that revealed one deposit of great books after another.  Here are a few favorites.

You can take a great literary tour of NOLA by calling Ms.Inez and asking for a Heritage Literary Tour.  The number is 504-451-1082

WHEN IN NOLA, TAKE A HAUNTED TOUR

   Few things are as much fun as a “haunted tour” in America’s most haunted city, New Orleans.  A quick check with TripAdvisor will show you that the largest, and sometimes most visible, ghost tours aren’t always the best.  For master story tellers, an easy pace, careful research and just plain fun, it’s hard to beat French Quarter Phantoms walking tours.  They offer a variety of tours and most begin at Flanagan’s Pub, 625 St Philip Street in the French Quarter. 

   Strange True Tours is another favorite, with great cemetery tours and a new bicycle tour. 

I’ll be returning to French Quarter Phantoms on Father’s Day, June 16, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. to sign books and I plan to take more tours with both companies while visiting New Orleans.

L'immortalite: Madame Lalaurie and the Voodoo Queen to haunt New Orleans' Hotel Monteleone Next Month

The Hotel Monteleone is known for its ghosts and its writers, so it is hardly surprising that this hotel was picked  for the 2013 Horror Writers Convention, which, this year, is also incorporating the World Horror Convention. The  HWA/WHC weekend runs June 13-16, culminating with the gala presentation of the 26^th annual Bram Stoker Awards.

The Hotel Monteleone is designated as an official literary landmark by the Friends of the Library Association. Writers who often stayed at the hotel include Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner, and Ernest Hemmingway.  John Grisham, Stephan Ambrose, Eudora Welty, Anne Rice and numerous other popular authors have also been guests.  Truman Capote once claimed (jokingly) to have been born there.   

According to the International Society of Paranormal Research, at least a dozen ghosts haunt the Monteleone, the best known of which is a child ghost who has been lingering in the hotel for over a century.  Just a mile down Royal Street from the haunted Lalaurie Mansion, Hotel Monteleone is the ideal setting for a meeting of horror writers, and I will be there daily at Table #5 (Nonius LLC  Press) in the dealers room (La Nouvelle Orleans West). Stop by and say hello.