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Jeff Houlahan
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NEW NOVEL Launching JUNE 2026!

L'il Sis and Nooj

AVAILABLE June 11th!
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L'IL SIS and NOOJ
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Published by Jeff Houlahan


​L'il Sis and Nooj is about a gifted guitarist and a transcendent blues singer in 1930s Harlem, who rise from the violent underworld of numbers runners to electrify the Chitlin’ Circuit - until fame, betrayal, and a devastating accident force them to confront an indifferent society determined to erase black women.

L’il Sis and Nooj is a literary historical novel loosely inspired by a story published in 2014 in The New York Times magazine called The Ballad of Geeshie and Elvie about two lost blues singers of the early 1900’s.  It’s a reminder that our lives are smaller for the works of genius lost to prejudice, ignorance and feckless time. 

It will appeal to readers of Half-Blood Blues
 and The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, combining lost musical genius with a fierce portrait of a black female artistic partnership.
READ MORE...
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NOW AVAILABLE!
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SINGER'S CIRCLE
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Published by Histria Books

What if seeing the suffering of others made your own life intolerable?  For Peter Singer, it's a lonely road but the only one his heart will allow.

Things are going well for Pete Singer – he’ s happily married with two healthy sons and a job that more than pays the bills – until he receives the first email. It is a list of 247 names. Just the list – no salutation, no signature, no explanation. When Singer receives the second email, he cannot resist tapping the link at the top of the page.

It shows a young girl unconscious, malnourished and laying on a rough dirt floor. It ends with a disembodied voice – “ Peter, twenty-five dollars will save her life.” At first, he follows the advice of friends and family and resists the plea. However, he soon receives a second video of the same young girl struggling to take a breath – her last.

He begins to donate. But he can’ t stop – even when it means lying to his wife and putting his family’ s financial future in jeopardy. Eventually, the financial sacrifices that Singer is willing to make on behalf of strangers strays so far from social acceptability that he loses his friends, his job, his marriage, and his family.

​On a day that feels as if it may be among his last, he meets the architect of the mission that he has been supporting. She shows him the way to a life he had never imagined.​​  Read more...
Singer's Circle
PICK UP YOUR PAPERBACK OR EBook NOw...

Pick up ALL of Jeff's Books...

L'il Sis and Nooj
Singer's Circle
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ABOUT JEFF
​I was born in Calgary, Alberta and grew up on a half-dozen military bases in Canada and Germany before settling in Ottawa, Canada.  I've been a waiter, a security guard (there is nothing less hip than being a nineteen-year-old security guard in full uniform at a midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show), a bartender, made pool liners (a much tougher job than it sounds), delivered mail on Parliament Hill and played guitar in a punk band called The Rainkings.   
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Today I am an ecologist, conservation biologist and writer. I live with my wife Kim in Cocagne, New Brunswick and work at the University of New Brunswick. All along I've been writing – short stories, songs, and, over the last dozen years, novels.   Published by Level Best Books, Long Train Home (March, 2022) is my first novel and my second, Boom Boom's Last Call, published in January, 2024. Singer's Circle, published by Histria Books, released in August, 2025.

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Listen-in to the House of Mystery Interview...

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​Alan Warren, host of the House of Mystery Radio Show (NBC News Radio) invited me on his show to talk about my new book, the writing process, developing characters and so much more. The interview is on most major podcast platforms found here. And here's the direct link to Jeff's podcast episode.

Jeff Houlahan - Boom Boom's Last Call - House of Mystery Radio on NBC | Acast
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  • Home
  • Books
    • L'il Sis and Nooj
    • Singer's Circle
    • Boom Boom's Last Call
    • Long Train Home
  • About Jeff
  • Writing Blog
  • Events & Media
  • Get in Touch