The St. Charles Bible by Fritz Westenberger (Available for Purchase)

Purchase here: https://marsandpanbooks.com/store/p/the-st-charles-bible

Summary

Sixteen-year-old Ree Osterberg is drawn into the fading grandeur—and dark secrets—of his grandmother Margarethe’s ancestral home on New Orleans’ famous St. Charles Avenue. According to family legend, Emperor Napoleon himself entrusted her ancestors with a priceless treasure hidden somewhere within Maison de l’Ange. And only Margarethe’s tyrannical father Henri Delacoeur II knows where.

When the cruel patriarch dies under mysterious circumstances while celebrating his hundredth birthday, Ree believes the worst of the Delacoeur legacy has finally ended. But Henri’s final act is one last cruelty: he leaves Margarethe nothing, willing the crumbling mansion she has lived in for forty years to a rival niece. With eviction looming, Ree vows to help the grandmother who has proven his only ally in his struggles to understand his own emerging identity as a young gay man in a world that feels increasingly hostile.

Margarethe, however, believes their salvation lies beyond the living. She is convinced her beloved brother René—driven away decades earlier for being gay—has returned to Maison de l’Ange in an otherworldly form. Consumed by grief and vengeance, she persuades Ree to become a vessel for René’s spirit, hoping together they can finally destroy the monstrous legacy of their father.

But the presence that possesses Ree is not the brother Margarethe remembers.

As past and present collide within the haunted halls of the Delacoeur mansion, Ree must confront a terrifying question: when the ghosts of this family finally settle their score, will there be anything left of himself?

Author Bio

Fritz Westenberger was born and raised in New Orleans. After his advertising career took him away to Los Angeles and New York for 30 years, his hometown finally called him back, and he immersed himself in the city’s unique Southern Gothic atmosphere to finish his debut novel, The St. Charles Bible.

He lives in the Lower Garden District with his husband, fellow author TQ Sims. Fritz and TQ established the independent publishing house Mars & Pan Books in 2025 to publish their own works and works from other LGBTQ+ authors and allies.

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