"...J.M.
Redmann is right where she needs to be..."
San
Francisco Chronicle
THE FIRST MICKY KNIGHT MYSTERY
It should have been the perfect case for Micky Knight - a stunning blond wanted her to do a simple missing person trace. But this case turned from simple to complex to dangerous to deadly, leading Micky on a twisted path from a raunchy bar in the French Quarter to a stately plantation on the Mississippi, and into the murky black water bayous of her youth. And finally, back into the past that she has tried so desperately to avoid.
Now back in print, the book that launched the Micky Knight mystery series and created a character the San Francisco Chronicle called "one of the most hard-boiled and complex female detectives in print." Booklist calls her "a gutsy, fast-thinking PI in the Raymond Chandler tradition, but with a sardonic ruefulness and humor that are pure 1990's," the New Orleans Times-Picayune chimes in with "Micky Knight is a fast-moving, fearless, fascinating character," and USA Today adds "an appealing private investigator . . . tastefully sexy." Bella Books is proud to reissue this exciting mystery.
DEATHS OF JOCASTA:
THE SECOND MICKY KNIGHT MYSTERY
|
THE INTERSECTION OF LAW AND DESIRE
A Micky Knight Mystery
LOST DAUGHTERS
A Micky Knight Mystery
|
BIOGRAPHY J. M. (Jean M.) Redmann grew up in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, a small and once unassuming town on the Gulf of Mexico. At eighteen, determined to escape the South, she headed north to attend Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.
The day after receiving her degree in drama, Redmann boarded a train for New York City. Determined not to become just another rich yuppie, she embarked on a career in theatrical lighting. Her theatrical work even included a stint as lighting director of the New York Playboy Club. (No, she never wore a bunny costume.) Riches never once threatened her doorstep. To this day, they remain far afield.
In 1988, while living in New York City, she began writing the book that became DEATH BY THE RIVERSIDE.
Due to circumstances beyond her control (a partner who decided to move south to go to law school) Redmann moved to the City That Care Forgot, New Orleans. She is the first to admit that this isn’t exactly what she had planned. When pressed, she will admit that few things are as she had planned.
Redmann currently works as the Director of Education for the NO/AIDS Task Force, the largest AIDS service organization in Louisiana. She also presents workshops on Safer Sex for Lesbians.
This gives her a great excuse to talk about sex 
and lesbian health, and watch sexually explicit videos, and talk about sex, and ask questions such as, "What do you do with that pink thing?," and talk about sex, all in a normal work day.
Redmann’s most recent Micky Knight adventure, LOST DAUGHTERS, was published by W.W. Norton in June of 1999. Other books include, THE INTERSECTION OF LAW AND DESIRE, which won a 1995 Lambda Literary Award, DEATH BY THE RIVERSIDE, and DEATHS OF JOCASTA.
Presently, J.M. Redmann lives, works and frolics in that city built on a swamp— New Orleans. She does not own a cat.
BOOK LIST Novels
LOST DAUGHTERS, W.W. Norton, July 1999 ISBN 0-393-04028-3
THE INTERSECTION OF LAW AND DESIRE, Avon, February 1997, ISBN 0-380-72819-2, paperback edition
THE INTERSECTION OF LAW AND DESIRE, W.W. Norton, July, 1995 ISBN 0-393-03793-2, 1995 Lambda Literary Award
DEATHS OF JOCASTA, New Victoria Publishers, 1992 Bella Books, 2002
ISBN 0-934678-39-1 Lambda Literary Award nomineeDEATH BY THE RIVERSIDE, New Victoria Publishers, 1990, Bella Books, 2002
ISBN 0-934678-27-8
Short Stories
"Maggie’s Hands" in HOT TICKET,
edited by Linnea Due, Alyson Books, July 1997
ISBN 1-55583-379-9
USA Today Micky Knight San Francisco Chronicle Raves for Redmann
BUY HER BOOKS If your local bookstores don't carry J.M. Redmann's books, they will probably be very happy to order them for you. Redmann encourages you to purchase books from your local independant bookseller:
"The reason I care about the independant bookstores
is that they were there when the 'mainstream' bookstores
wanted nothing to do with queer books,
they rarely take investement dollars from people who want us dead,
and they're great places to cruise girls."Copies of JMR's books are available from
Bellabooks.com
And here's a little trivia about the big booksellers and JMR:
At the Amazon.com site, look closely at the cover of LOST DAUGHTERS and you'll notice that it has been altered. Okay, some might say, "censored."
While the Barnes and Noble site didn't see a need to "alter" the cover, their New Orleans store did shelve Redmann's first two books in the "Death and Dying" section... It's been reported that she politely brought the oversite to their attention.
THE FAMOUS
REDMANN FAMILY
OYSTER DRESSING
The J.M. Redmann version of the recipe.
Having on this day, December 25, 1998, once again succeeded in making the renowned Redmann family oyster dressing, half from memory and half from scribbled down notes, I am therefore, being of reasonably sound mind, setting down in writing, to the best of my ability, the secrets of the dressing.
Bread Crumbs - about two of the supermarket canisters.
5-6 big white onions
3 bunches of green onions
8-10 green peppers
3 bunches of celery
3 bunches of fresh parsley
2 quart containers of oysters (original notes—two big oyster things)
6-7 lemons
sage
thyme
bay leaves
salt (if desired, I left it out this time)
pepperChop up everything. Put it in a big pot. Cook the veggies (onions, green onions, peppers, celery, parsley) in the big pot for about an hour, until they’re soft and that sort of army green color. Throw in the spices, about 5-7 crumbled up bay leaves, probably about a teaspoon or two of all the rest (except salt, go sparingly, there is probably enough salt in the bread crumbs). Mix it up well. While the veggies are cooking, chop up the oysters, squeeze (and then juice) the lemons (if you want to hew to the family traditions, grate some lemon zest, but I’ve found that the juice works just as well and is less messy).
Add the chopped oysters, the oyster liquid (check for shell bits, it’s not nice to crunch at Thanksgiving or X-mas) to the mix. Add the bread crumbs and the lemon juice (and zest and hope that someone will wash the grater for you). Mix it all together. It should have just a bit of tang in the taste, but not really taste lemony. Let it simmer for a bit, stirring between sips on your beer, wine, Diet Pepsi or whatever it takes to get you through the holidays. It shouldn’t be soupy, but you still should be able to easily stir it.
At this point, you can stuff it where ever you would like to (assuming either consent or being dead, as in dead turkey or chicken, on the part of the stuffee). It can simmer happily along for a while until dinner is ready, unless dinner is more than twenty-four hours away.
Bon appetite.
At a Crossroads
By Susan Larson
Book Editor, The Times-Picayune
June 29, 1995
By day, she's a professional AIDS activist; as the counseling and testing coordinator for the NO/AIDS Task Force, she supervises approximately 100 volunteers who counsel just under 3,000 individuals each year.
She's also New Orleans' best known lesbian writer, an up-and-coming mystery novelist, with her third novel, "The Intersection of Law and Desire," (Norton, $22), just out.
She's Jean Redmann to clients and friends, and J.M. Redmann to readers.
"It helps give me a sense of context," she says. "If someone knows me as J.M. it's because of the books."
"The books" are three mystery novels set in New Orleans featuring lesbian private detective Micky Knight - "Deaths of Jocasta," published in 1992 and nominated for a Lamda literary award, one of the most prestigious honors in gay literature, and "Death by the Riverside," published in 1990.
Redmann's writing career began some years ago when she was working in New York as lighting designer and electrician. When an off-Broadway play, "Psycho Beach Party," became a hit, Redmann had a steady job and a regular schedule that allowed her time to write. Her first tow books were published by the small feminist press New Victoria Publishers, but Redmann is now midway through a two-book contract with W.W. Norton, which also published well known detective novelist and President Clinton's favorite, Walter Mosley.
"This is my first step outside the gay and lesbian ghetto," she said, remarking on how she gave serious thought about whether or not to be interviewed and photographed. "People are being killed for being gay, and most gays and lesbians carry that in the back of their minds. But I was thinking the other day, that they may be winning the political war, but we're winning the cultural war. There are so many books published now that they couldn't possibly burn them all. Almost every publisher has by or about gays and lesbians. All the clerks at Waldenbooks will know my book.
"We have the right to have our stories told."
While Redmann says that Micky Knight isn't an autobiographical character, she's intrigued by her. "Micky has demons to struggle with and conflict in her life, and her anger allows her to say things. And she's got a writer who makes sure doesn't suffer too much for it. I like the sense of community among those friends, the characters in the books; in some sense it's the ideal world we all look for."
Redmann, whose father was a native New Orleanian, grew up in Ocean Springs ("Being a feminist was a great way to rebel in Ocean Springs"), then went to Vassar before heading to New York. She moved to New Orleans in 1989 with her lover, who was attending law school at the time, before being stricken with multiple sclerosis, an experience that Redmann has sharpened her own perceptions about the fragility and importance of each moment, about what is really meaningful in life.
And she's seizing this moment in her writing life. There's a tour to do, a Jan. 1 deadline for her next book to meet. And there are more books to write.
Someday I'll write about the work I do at the task force," she said. "And that will be my 'Middlemarch.'"
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Oh,
come on now, enough is enough...
