"MAMOU"

October 05, 2021 2 Comments

"Mamou"

Based on the high concept by Brad Lee Patterson

Written by Chris Warner with BLP

“A Historical Romance Novel Depicting Mardi Gras in the Deep South”

LOG LINE:

A washed up architect and denizen of Perdido Key, Florida spends a reveling pre-Mardi Gras weekend with an old friend at the world-famous Flora-Bama, where they concoct a plan to acquire accomplices in Mobile and New Orleans, on successive nights and to rob the Mamou State Bank in Mamou, Louisiana during the drunken early morning hours of Ash Wednesday. The architect and old friend draw up more fun than money, and in the end each cohort finds themselves and new friends in this colorful romp across the hypnotic, haunted carnival jewels of the Dirty South.

Synopsis:

Arnie O’Rourke is down on his luck in paradise. Destitute from a nightmare divorce, an unforeseen oil spill and subsequent economic collapse—and now the ravages of a category four hurricane, he is desperate for a change of fortune. Enter long-time friend Polecart “Cutter” LeBlanc, a sugarcane farmer turned developer and bona fide member of the Cajun Navy, on his way to the rescue with survival rations; moxie and an escape plan of epic proportions.

Cutter inherits the architectural plans of the Romanesque Mamou State Bank—an area landmark that exists unchanged; and because of that, he feels, is ripe for the taking. To Arnie he pitches breaking into the bank after midnight on the morning of Ash Wednesday—the day after Mardi Gras, while everyone is sleeping off their buzz; breaching the vault, emptying its contents and evading capture while transporting the loot to a nearby safe house.

The bold plan requires expertise in the form of additional willing and able accomplices. Two other associates are targeted and sought: one, a tech-savvy geek living in underground Mobile, Alabama off Dauphine Street; the other a muscular ex-con with safe-cracking skills living in the Big Easy. The two join the fray, along with a complementing host of unforgettable Southern belles to form a vaunted foursome worthy of Dumas’ Musketeer fame.

The story takes the viewer from the white sandy shores of Perdido Key, Florida to the storied stages of the world-famous Flora-Bama, to the legendary haunts of Mardi Gras originator Joe Cain in downtown Mobile to the second line parade jaunts of the Marsalis brothers at Snug Harbor on Frenchman Street in New Orleans and to the esoteric chank-a-chank echo of Cajun Prairie mainstays like Steve Riley and the Playboys at the legendary Fred’s Lounge in downtown, historic Mamou, Louisiana.

Arnie and his attractive, brash band of bank robbers enjoy themselves immensely in this feel-good romp across the hypnotic, haunted carnival jewels of the Dirty South, finding new purpose, fun and joy in their ill-conceived adventure, vowing to do the unthinkable—and following through.

Publish Date: May 2022

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