'Join the force,' the posters say. 'Help keep the streets safe for our citizens'. A proud line of work indeed. They never tell you about the other parts, and they're probably in the right on that.
— Chet, narrating the opening lines of the series.
Below Board: A Tale of Police and Politics in 1930s New Orleans is a Podcast Audio Play being made by AH.com members Ares 96 and Iserlohn. Set in the same universe as The Story of a Party, it's set up as a fairly standard Police Procedural, following two Burglary detectives investigating a string of thefts in 1930s New Orleans.
At present the story is moonlighting as Web Original Fiction, as the creators are unable to record it themselves. The first episode can be found on AH.com
(members only) or on deviantArt. Episode two is only on dA.
Tropes:
- Alternate History: But of course. To summarise, there was a harsher Great Depression, leading to a left-wing movement called National Socialism (no, not Those Wacky Nazis) taking power and an early Civil Rights movement. This is in a lull by the time the show opens, leaving race relations rather frosty.
- Always Murder: Zig-zagged. The main characters are investigating burglaries, but someone inevitably ends up dead before the episode is over.
- Buddy Cop Show: The main characters are Detectives Chet Holloway, an up-and-comer from the Upper Midwest, and Jules Martin, an agin' Cajun who serves as his mentor.
- Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Being an Alternate History work, it's prone to this. For instance, cars are referred to throughout as "autos".
- Da Chief: Captain Aldridge serves this role for the most part, since the actual Superintendent (New Orleanian name for the police chief) has not yet appeared.
- Last-Name Basis: This being the police, everyone except Chet goes by this.
- Mama Didn't Raise No Criminal: Subverted with James' mother in the second episode. She knows he was a small-time crook, just not that he'd get involved in something that big.
- Ragin' Cajun: Detective Martin averts this, and while Cajun, is usually quite calm and collected. He can't abide by racism, though.
- Shout-Out: The episode titles to Dragnet, whose episode titles all started with The Big... as well.
- The Big Easy: An alternate version of it, but the Big Easy nonetheless, provides the main setting for the series.
