Have you ever met someone new and right away it clicked, and you knew you’d be friends for the rest of your life? Yes, there are those friends you can build relationships with and they are perfectly fine, but then there are those other special ones that don’t even seem to take any effort. Something snaps into place and there it stands, a brand-new friendship fully formed and ready to go. Why is that?

What I feel for Ken Pascoe goes even deeper than that. I fell in love with my husband the minute I saw him on MTV when I was fifteen years old. That “Love Power” music video came on, The WarBirds started playing, I saw Kenny Pascoe and it was a true coup de foudre, love at first sight. I knew we were meant to be together in my soul.

It wasn’t easy. After the plane crash, Ken was a mess with drugs and alcohol. I’ll never tell him this, but I think he was trying to die. I didn’t like what I was reading about him, so I caught a bus to New York City, carried him home to NOLA and got him cleaned up. We’ve made a new life here, a good life. I think Ken’s happy.

And without him I wouldn’t have Gigi, the joy of my life even with all the difficulties. Gigi was born a wild child, no surprise there having Ken for a father! We’ve never had a transgender person in my family before. At first it was a real struggle wrapping my head around the idea, but then I realized that my daughter was still the same person I’ve always loved and that helped me grasp it. Gigi has a solid group of LGBTQ friends and she’s active in the gay community, so even though I still worry about her, I believe she’s safe.

As for me, I have my special friends, too! I’m blessed to have Aunt Babette living with us in our third-floor apartment. She’s not really my aunt, more like a cousin on the Dulayne-Broussard side, but she raised me and she’s always been a part of my life. With her true mediumistic gift, she’s always there whenever I need a Tarot deck reading or to consult the Ouija board for advice. Ken isn’t thrilled with having a genuine NOLA voodoo queen living upstairs of us, but then I remind him that the house is Aunt Babette’s home as much as it is ours, that she was here before he was and he usually simmers down.

I’m also lucky to have my best friend, Cheryl Embry living on the corner across Plessy Street. Cheryl lives there with her son, Ryan. Gigi and Ryan grew up together as childhood buddies although they seem to have parted ways since Gigi came out. That’s a true shame. There aren’t many people who still have a childhood friend living nearby in this busy world. There’s something easy about having a friend who already knows everything about you, good, bad or indifferent. You have that shared experience to draw from, that history. I hope someday Gigi and Ryan mend their fences and work it out, but that’s up to them.

In any case, Cheryl was sweet enough to invite me out to supper next week to celebrate my 50th birthday. Ken looked shocked when I told him what we girls were doing. I honestly think he forgot about it!

And cross your fingers we may have a new tenant coming over to look at the vacant courtyard apartment. Her name is Jane Byrne. I’m praying she takes the place for December. Ken found her working as a security guard at Guardian Self-Storage on Canal Street. She seems very keen and we desperately need the rental income next month to cover some plumbing repairs I’ve been putting off.

Actually, I’m surprised Ken put that two-and-two together. He’s usually hopeless about money matters. I’m still angry he sold the “Love Power” royalties to those thieving New York lawyers and that was thirty-odd years ago before we even met. To this day whenever I hear “Love Power” on the radio it makes me cringe thinking about that lost money and that song is still being played everywhere I go. I can only hope this Jane person likes the apartment and she moves right in!

Love Power is the first book in the NEW “Crescent City New Orleans” mystery series featuring strong women sleuths and an array of LGBTQ characters. Love Power was released October 19, 2020.

Disgraced ex-police detective Jane Byrne blows into New Orleans on her Ducati motorcycle looking for a fresh start, never expecting to uncover a hate crime serial killer targeting NOLA’s inclusive LGBTQ community.

Jane’s new landlords, Leslie and Ken Pascoe and Leslie’s Aunt Babette, a mediumistic voodoo queen offer Jane a haven. Ken is the sole surviving remnant of The WarBirds, an ‘80’s one-hit wonder heavy metal band whose single stadium anthem mega hit “Love Power” was one of the first music videos produced for MTV.

At a surprise party we meet Gigi Pascoe, Ken and Leslie’s transgender daughter and Gigi’s two BFFs. After one of her friends goes missing, Gigi’s concern turns to fear that their LGBTQ world is being targeted for hate crime violence when a second friend vanishes.

Dissatisfied with the NOPD force and local FBI bureau agency responses, Jane and Gigi team up only to discover that their united effort has refocused the serial killer’s white supremacist hate-filled intent on them.

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Meet the author
Martha Reed is the Independent Publisher (“IPPY”) Book Award-winning crime fiction author of the John and Sarah Jarad Nantucket Mystery series. Book two, The Nature of the Grave won an IPPY Honorable Mention for Mid-Atlantic Best Regional Fiction.

She is an active member of Sisters in Crime, Inc., Mystery Writers of America (MWA) and in a moment of great folly at Bouchercon 2016, she joined the New Orleans Bourbon Society (N.O.B.S.) She loves travel, big jewelry and great coffee and delights in the never-ending antics of her extended family who she lovingly calls The Mutinous Crew.

Visit her website reedmenow.com for more information.

All comments are welcomed.