Based on a true story and bringing both the past and New Orleans in its prime to colourful life, this taut and suspenseful debut novel has all the assurance of much more experienced veterans. When the Big Easy is shaken to its rotting foundations by a series of gruesome murders, a policeman with a dark secret, a disgraced cop now employed by the mafia and a Sherlock-obsessed secretary at the Pinkerton Agency reluctantly join forces to uncover the identity of the mad killer who insists jazz music be played unless you wish to become his next victim. Unpredictable, suspenseful, a genuine tour de force.