Desiree Broussard by Lee Rene

“A meticulous portrait of vintage New Orleans. I could smell, see, and taste every scene. Beautifully drawn characters. Plot has as many turns as a Vieux Carré alley.”~ Fleeta Cunningham, author of the SANTA RITA series 

In 1950s New Orleans, perversity rules; there are no saints, but plenty of sinners. In the shadowy world of clandestine sex clubs, the police are a lethal force and sexuality can be deadly. Desiree Broussard is trapped in the black vortex of the sordid underbelly of life in the Big Easy. Her beauty attracts the attention of the mysterious scion of the wealthiest family in the city. Blinded by their attraction, they are sucked into a deadly vortex of the most powerful force in the city, the New Orleans police.  Purchase here. 

"Mitzi of the Ritz is a wonderful, authentic look at old Hollywood told through the eyes of Mitzi Schector, who is thrown into situations with her sister that are both exciting, intriguing, funny and a bit scary. I was captivated from the very beginning, and that sort of excitement lasts throughout the book. The detail that Lee Rene puts in her writing is beautiful. She truly captures the feel and heart of Los Angeles in a certain era, along with the attitude and the personas of Hollywood stars and starlets from the past." ~ Author Michael Szymanski

Movie moguls, platinum-blonde bombshells, and a plucky girl on the run are some of the elements of Mitzi of the Ritz, a romantic mystery set in Hollywood during the great Depression. In the fall of 1930, the youthful protagonist, Mitzi Schector leaves New York and flees the machinations a local mobster. She makes an eventful cross-country trek on the famed the Santa Fe Chief and meets the cast of characters who will change her life. Mitzi arrives in Los Angeles when motion pictures were in the final stages of the not-so-rapid transformation from sound to talking pictures. Mitzi finds work as an organist at the Broadway Ritz, the last silent movie theater on Los Angeles famed Broadway theater district and her real adventure begins.  Purchase here.