The Creole Crucible

A Bradley Foster PI Mystery

The Creole Crucible is the second book in the Hot Springs trilogy. The main character in both books is Bradley Foster, a former Marine with multiple deployments as a helicopter mechanic to the Mid-East, e.g., the “Sandbox.” His goal in life is to take what he learned in the Marines, both as a highly specialized mechanic with strong deductive skills and as a Marine rifleman and apply it to his desired profession as a private investigator. He settles in Hot Springs, Arkansas as the place to open his first office with its history of being a vacation resort for gangsters, baseball athletes, and movie stars. Just the place for a good mystery. As he meets various characters in the story, he realizes that one of his goals is also to become part of a family, and he now has those possibilities.
The name “Creole” refers to the French settlers that came to New Orleans during Napoleonic times and intermarried with African American and Native Americans. In New Orleans, the Creoles were an elite class of wealthy merchants.
The Creole Crucible depicts Bradley Foster’s investigations, challenges, and experiences in New Orleans on behalf of his friend and employer, Pauly Descantes, the owner of the Oakwood Casino and Racetrack in Hot Springs, and the grandson of a famous New York gangster, Julio Descantes.