O’Neil De Noux, a police investigator known for his crime novels, has decided to retire from his long career in law enforcement to focus on his writing
FIle Photo
After 10 years working for the University Police Department, O’Neil De Noux, who has been in law enforcement since 1968, decided it is time to retire.
“Well, I’m old,” said De Noux, a police investigator. “This is a young man’s game. I’ve been at this since 1968. I became a police cadet, and I’ve been in and out of law enforcement my whole life. It’s a young person’s game, and it’s time for me to move on.”
Now that he is retiring, De Noux plans to focus on his writing.
“I’ve got three books coming out next year, and I intend to promote them,” said De Noux. “I’m in the middle of writing another one, and I’ll just keep writing and promoting my books. Those are the plans.”
De Noux has authored multiple books throughout the years.
“I’ve had 33 books published,” said De Noux. “I’m an author, and I’m gonna concentrate on my writing.”
De Noux has wanted to be a writer since he was young.
“When I was in high school, I wanted to write,” said De Noux. “I always knew that I was gonna be a writer. I thought maybe I’d write a book, hopefully I’d write a novel someday. I just stuck with it. I wrote a lot of bad short stories and actually learned my craft. When I became a homicide detective, I realized this is what I need to write about. My first novel was a homicide novel, and I never looked back. I just keep writing and trying to get better.”
De Noux is an accomplished writer having won multiple awards throughout his career including the 2011 Police Book of the Year for “John Raven Beau,” the Shamus Award for Best Short Story in 2007 for “The Heart Has Reasons” and the Derringer Award for Best Novelette in 2009 for “Too Wise,” but he feels his weakness is in his versatility as a writer.
“Not only do I write crime fiction, I have three historical novels published,” said De Noux. “I’ve written science fiction. I’ve written fantasy. I’ve written erotica, a lot of erotica. Especially in the men’s magazines. It’s a good way to make quick money as a writer. I have different genres. It’s probably my weakest link because I’m not just one kind of writer. People don’t say ‘Okay he always writes crime fiction, let’s go to him for that.’ I also write other stuff, and they may not like that.”
De Noux is also an accomplished police officer.
“Well, I was the police officer of the year in 2012, and I’ve received the Chiefs Award of Merit which is the highest decoration the department gets,” said De Noux.
At UPD, De Noux has found that they often help more than they harm.
“My favorite part of working here is the fact that we help a lot of kids because we do more educating than incarcerating,” said De Noux. “We have a lot of kids that make mistakes. We try to help them. We do a lot of counseling, and I like that part.”
