Vodoun is a complicated religion that has morphed many times since reaching the New World, adding elements of both Christianity and Native American beliefs. Priests and priestesses of the religion are houngans and mambos, respectively, and they often practice both magic - black and white - and the healing arts.
In my novel, Big Easy, Book No. 1 of my French Quarter Mystery Series, Mama Mulate is a conundrum within the religion: a practicing voodoo mambo with a doctorate in English literature that teaches at Tulane University. Unlike most practitioners of Vodoun Mama uses her talents only for good. In the novel, she comes up against a vicious serial killer that is the embodiment of voodoo deity Baron Samedi.
A turning point in the novel occurs during a ceremony on the banks of Bayou Rigolettes. An influential mambo assumes the persona of Lasyrenn, loa of fishes and Queen of the Sea, to instruct a naked initiate. Homicide detective Tony Nicosia, a non-believer, accompanies Mama Mulate to observe the event relevant to the murder case involving voodoo he is investigating. Possessed by Lasyrenn, he becomes an unwitting participant in the sexually charged voodoo ceremony.
How does the experience affect the long-time N.O.P.D. homicide detective? Read Big Easy and find out.
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Born near Black Bayou in the little Louisiana town of Vivian, Eric Wilder grew up listening to his grandmother’s tales of politics, corruption, and ghosts that haunt the night. He now lives in Oklahoma where he continues to pen mysteries and short stories with a southern accent. He is the author of the French Quarter Mystery Series set in New Orleans and the Paranormal Cowboy Series. Please check it out on his Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iBook author pages. You might also like to check out his website.
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