Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Boys of St. Leonard's

This is a mystery series idea.

St. Leonard of Noblac is the patron saint against burglars and robbers (St. Nicholas of Myra, later became St. Nicholas or Santa Claus is also a patron against criminals or for the innocent). St. Leonard's is the very expensive and exclusive Catholic dorm at the University of North Central Illinois.

A black college student, Clovis O'Malley, on an academic scholarship finds that his roommate is an old football rival. The other boy, Nicholas Noblac, was known as "The Widowmaker" because of his ferocious hits in blocking and ball carrying (as a full back).

The Widowmaker contracted AIDS while giving CPR to someone. The victim and his lover are putting the boy through school because he doesn't play football anymore and lost his scholarship. He is an Eagle Scout and an "All American Boy."

The boys do detective work to earn a few extra bucks. They complement each others' abilities.

Clovis is a natural genius and slightly sheltered, but being African-American he sees things from that perspective. His father was a cop, but also worked as a security guard and a truck driver. He was a strict RC. His father was an Irish cop in Chicago and his mother was from Haiti. His mother was a stay at home mom and quite strict. Her parents were a nurse and a very successful studio musician for Chess Records in Chicago. Their grandparents were all born slaves and moved north during or right after the Civil War.

Nicholas was reared by his grandfather, as his parents were killed when he was about ten. His grandfather was lenient and he was left to fend for himself most of the time. He is smart, but has more street smarts and is a little harder, while being nearly a saint (not tempted by any vice).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome idea! This has the potential of being a an unforgettable story! Tell ne more!

Inner Prop said...

Thanks. Well I haven't written it yet, but I was originally thinking something like the Hardy Boys.

Today I was listening to a band called Epinikion (from Ukraine) and I thought this story might be a little darker than Hardy Boys.

I originally thought it would contain mysteries that were anything but murder and the boys would be having fun while they solved the puzzles.

Murder wouldn't be an acceptable mystery because murder is never fun. It bothers me that a lot of mysteries, especially Cozies treat murder like a sort of game or contest between the murderer and the sleuth.

But if I made it darker then I could treat the murder in the serious, deadly and life changeing subject it is.

The darker version would be about the struggle of these normal boys with great challenges to be heros.

Trouble is, could this be a mainstream adult mystery or would it have to be YA because the main characters are college students?