Horne, Jed 1948–

PERSONAL: Born 1948. Education: Graduated from Deerfield Academy, 1966.

ADDRESSES: Home—New Orleans, LA. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 19 Union Square W., New York, NY 10003.

CAREER: Times-Picayune, New Orleans, LA, city editor.

WRITINGS:

Desire Street: A True Story of Death and Deliverance in New Orleans, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS: Jed Horne, a city editor for the Times-Picayune in New Orleans, Louisiana, is also the author of the true-crime book Desire Street: A True Story of Death and Deliverance in New Orleans. The book is based on an extraordinary legal case concerning how Curtis Kyles was tried five separate times for the murder of Delores Dye. Kyles insisted he was innocent during the entire fourteen years he spent on death row, and through each of his trials, until his eventual release. Horne investigated the case thoroughly, interviewing all of the people involved in an attempt to determine what made Kyles' case so complex. Through his book, he recounts the gruesome murder of Dye, a white housewife and grandmother who was shot in the head in a supermarket parking lot, as well as the remarks of the eyewitnesses who claimed that Kyles, a known drug dealer, was the man responsible. Horne focuses on the racial and economic factors of the case, as well as the evidence, showing how the political atmosphere in the city might have contributed to Kyles's arrest. A contributor for Kirkus Reviews remarked that Desire Street is "frequently profane, steeped in violent imagery, and sometimes unduly speculative, but Horne tells the whole story." Sarah Jent, writing in Library Journal, called Horne's effort an "interesting and well-written book."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2004, review of Desire Street: A True Story of Death and Deliverance in New Orleans, p. 1183.

Library Journal, January 1, 2005, Sarah Jent, review of Desire Street, p. 130.

ONLINE

Deerfield Academy Web site, http://www.deerfield.edu/ (August 30, 2005), "Jed Horne."