Neal Rafferty New Orleans Mystery

Nothing is what it seems in New Orleans, but this murder was one for the books... two books to be exact; a missing set of William Blake rarities - and street-smart detective Neal Rafferty has been hired to find them. Instead, what he finds is the body of a rare book dealer and a growing list of females - each with a pretty good reason to do him in. There's his all too ready to confess wife, his unhappy, illegitimate daughter, and the beautiful, sensual Catherine - a woman who's a lot easier to love than she is to believe. What does a tough private eye do when he finds himself falling for the prime suspect in a murder case? The answers, and the truth, may be hiding in the steamy streets and sleazy bars of New Orleans, and Rafferty's got to choose the right one... choose between a truth he can live with and one he could end up dying for.

Would-be district attorney Richard Cotton has hired private detective Neal Rafferty to keep tabs on his wife. His wife, Paula Cotton, has hired the cool and classy Lee Diamond to keep tabs on her husband. It's almost Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and when the masks go on they hide a multitude of sins - like bribery, corruption, and drug-running, not to mention Richard Cotton's particular secret. And when the bodies start showing up, Rafferty realizes that adultery is not the name of the game. In the gentleman's city of New Orleans, all things eventually settle into the Mississippi River mud. It's a question of what stays buried.

A phone call at midnight. A cocktail lounge on New Orleans's West Bank. A young woman who wants to photograph prostitutes and re-create Bellocq's famous Storyville portraits. And murder. These are the threads that lead private eye Neal Rafferty into a labyrinth of danger in the Crescent City... where crime is always hot, spicy, and full-flavored with suspense. The phone call is from his old girlfriend Jackie Silva. A loan shark named Bubba Brevna is threatening to collect from Jackie the traditional way... with pain. He's already moved into her establishment - the Emerald Lizard - with a bouncer called Godzilla, some call girls, and a set of muscular twins with one brain between them who are running "chicken drop" contests on the dance floor. What Rafferty can't foresee is that, within days, the Emerald Lizard will be torched and Jackie Silva will be dead; soon, the young photographer will be missing. Rafferty begins a dark journey of guilt, grief, and revenge amid the stink of corruption that will send him into the deadly shadows of narrow streets and twisted hearts.