Louis Maistros was born and raised in New Orleans. In his debut novel, “The Sound of Building Coffins,” he weaves a tale of New Orleans as only a native could.

It is a story of racial and spiritual differences, the battle between evil and good (or perhaps just a little less evil). He casts a stark light on the seamier side of the city with its brothels, con artists and gambling joints.
It is also a story of death and rebirth, told as only a master storyteller can.

Throughout the novel, the river — always the river — plays a central role, just as it does in the life of New Orleans  today.
Maistros introduces us to the Morningstar family. Noonday is a widower and minister who lovingly tends to the spiritual needs of his community but leaves his family much too soon trying to save the life of a child who is the victim of a voodoo curse gone wrong.

The Morningstar children are Diphtheria, devoted mother and high-priced call girl; Typhus, sensitive and spiritual; Malaria, the bartender who mothers her siblings after their father’s death; and Dropsy, the con artist who is mentally slow.
They were named after diseases in the belief that these names are a tribute to God’s glory because life is merely a trial to survive while death is the “bridge to paradise.”

As the story of their lives plays out, this philosophy is illustrated again and again through trials and tragedies. Maistros draws the reader into the Morningstars and their supporting cast, including Dr. Jack, the witch doctor and abortion specialist; Marcus Nobody Special, gravedigger; Malvina Latour, voodoo queen; and Buddy Bolden, jazz musician. This is a haunting story with very few happy endings. Like a jazz riff played well, resolution always comes but not necessarily on an expected note.

If Maistros was a traditional storyteller rather than a writer, he would be one of those gifted individuals that you would listen to raptly, late into the night.  But as you read these stories, you’re likely to give a little shiver and a glance over your shoulder from time to time to make sure that Coco Robicheaux, the Cajun bogeyman,  is not coming up on you unawares.