Why Do Voodoo?

The most frequent question asked by prospective readers is how did I treat Voodoo? Did I make it scary? Was I respectful?

First, and foremost, Devil's Breath is a story about a serial killer and the two women investigating the murders. Voodoo plays an integral part in the storyline but I wanted to be different from the movies and books that depict Voodoo as a horror story. I researched it and found Voodoo practitioners use it for helping people. Some examples are love potions, elixirs for receiving money, and the gris-gris used for protection.

I found that Voodoo came with the slaves from Haiti to Louisiana while Catholicism was common among the slave owners. Over time, Louisiana's Voodoo mingled with Catholicism to get the modern version. For instance, the gris-gris is a small bag of items that is worn around your neck for protection, similar to the St. Christopher medallion worn for the same purpose. The Voodoo gods, or loa, are reminiscent of saints and disciples in the Catholic faith. Other examples include Maman Brigitte's similarity to the Mother Mary and the sacrifice of blood is needed in Voodoo as it was in the Old Testament. But there is also the dark side of Voodoo in which a Voodoo witch attempts to harm others through hexes, potions, and the stereotypical Voodoo doll.

In Devil's Breath, I portray both a Voodoo priest helping the main characters and a Voodoo witch assisting the serial killer. The reader sees both sides of Voodoo. I amplified the abilities of both the priest and witch in order to give the reader a taste of the supernatural but my goal was to show both sides with good ultimately overcoming evil.

So, to summarize... Devil's Breath respectfully shows both sides of Voodoo and mentions its affinity to Catholicism as well as a tiny bit of history. I hope the readers enjoy it as much as I enjoyed researching and writing it.