San Francisco knows noir. It's been 75 years since Dashiell Hammett's seminal masterwork, which set the standard for the genre, was finished on Post street. And just as Hammett used the crime novel genre to delve into deeper issues of class and politics, contemporary author Leonce Gaiter weaves social critique into his first novel . Set in our other favorite city, New Orleans, it centers on the machinations of a man out to avenge the cruel death of his mother.

The author was nice enough to forward us a review copy, which we very much enjoyed. We got a chance to ask Leonce about the book and about some of the larger issues that it deals with.

After the jump, our thoughts on the novel and an interview with Leonce Gaiter.

Bourbon Street