Fiction Review

Congratulations to Reavis Z. Wortham who recently won the 2019 Spur Award for Best Mass Market Paperback Novel for Hawke’s War. The Spur Awards are presented annually by the Western Writers of America. “WWA (WesternWriters.org) promotes and honors the best in Western literature with the annual Spur Awards, selected by panels of judges. Awards, for material published last year, are given for works whose inspiration, image and literary excellence best represent the reality and spirit of the American West.” You can see the list of winners here. https://prn.to/2EZjAIl

Reavis Z. Wortham’s Red River Mysteries are published by Sourcebooks/Poisoned Pen Press. However, you can also order his Sonny Hawke thrillers, including Hawke’s War, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2EMo0B6

Here’s the summary of the award-winning Hawke’s War.

“The most riveting thriller all year!” ““John Gilstrap on Hawke’s Prey

The serene beauty of West Texas’s Big Bend National Park is shattered when four hikers are brutally ambushed by a sniper. Only one survives to report the murders. When investigators come up with nothing, they’re left wondering if this is a single incident—or the beginning of a rampage. One week later, Texas Ranger Sonny Hawke drives his 3500 Dodge Dually into the park, determined to unearth the truth . . .

Before he knows it, he’s in the same sniper’s crosshairs. The drug and human smuggling cartel known as the Coyotes Rabiosos—Rabid Coyotes—have lured him to remote backcountry, looking for payback for an old grudge. Wounded and stranded in the harsh desert terrain, hunted, and outnumbered, Sonny is about to become the target of an even more dangerous enemy—one whose thirst for revenge could incite an international conflict far beyond the U.S.-Mexican border . . .

Reavis Z. Wortham is . . .

“A masterful and entertaining storyteller.” —Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine

“Entertaining and emotionally engaging.” —T. Jefferson Parker

“The real thing.” —C.J. Box

While Betty Webb may have sobbed when she finished the tenth and final book in her Lena Jones mystery series, Desert Redemption, there are so many of her fans who are in mourning as well. If you’re in Arizona, you should show up at the Poisoned Pen on Thursday, March 14 at 7 PM to show your appreciation to the author. If you can’t make it, you can order copies of Webb’s books, and a signed copy of Desert Redemption, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2xhvGLf

Karina Bland recently did a profile of Betty Webb, one that discusses the Lena Webb series. You can read it here. https://bit.ly/2SRppeB

*****

Here’s the summary of Desert Redemption. (Let’s hope Lena will be back someday.)

“In Jones’s electrifying 10th…Scottsdale, Arizona, PI Lena is approached by Harold Slow Horse, one of Arizona’s leading artists…[and] gets on a trail that leads her at long last to answers about her troubled past…” —Publishers Weekly

At the age of four, Scottsdale private eye Lena Jones was shot in the head and left to die on a Phoenix street. After her rescue, she spent years in the abusive foster care system, never knowing who her parents were and why they didn’t claim her. When Desert Redemption begins, she still doesn’t know her real name.

Lena’s rough childhood—and the suspicion that her parents may have been members of a cult—keeps her hackles raised. So when Chelsea, the ex-wife of Harold Slow Horse, a close friend, joins a “new thought” organization called Kanati, Lena begins to investigate. She soon learns that two communes—polar opposites of each other—have sprung up nearby in the Arizona desert. The participants at EarthWay follow a rigorous dietary regime that could threaten the health of its back-to-the-land inhabitants, while the more pleasure-loving folk at Kanati are dining on sumptuous French cuisine.

On an early morning horseback ride across the Pima Indian Reservation, Lena finds an emaciated woman’s body in the desert. “Reservation Woman” lies in a spot close to EarthWay, clad in a dress similar to the ones worn by its women. But there is something about her face that reminds Lena of the Kanatians.

While investigating, Lena’s memory is jolted back to that horrible night when her father and younger brother were among those murdered by a cult leader named Abraham, who then vanished. Lena begins to wonder if either EarthWay or Kanati could be linked to that night, and to her own near-death. Could leaders of one or both shed light on what had happened to Lena’s mother, who vanished at the same time as Abraham?

All these mysteries are resolved in Desert Redemption, the tenth and final Lena Jones case, which can also be enjoyed on its own.

It’s not too early to talk up Jeffrey Siger’s appearance at The Poisoned Pen for his latest Andreas Kaldis novel set in Greece, The Mykonos Mob. Before I post most of Siger’s latest newsletter, I’ll remind you Jeff will be at the bookstore on Tuesday, April 16 at 7 PM. And, you can buy copies of his books, some of them signed, through the Web Store. You can also pre-order a copy of The Mykonos Mob. https://bit.ly/2jC3gpp

Here’s Jeffrey Siger’s latest newsletter.

Yiasas!

I can’t believe how quickly time flies. Tuesday, April 2nd is the official release date for Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis’ adventure #10, The Mykonos Mob. Yes, #10!!!

What a journey it’s been, highlighted this past year by The New York Times Sunday Book Review naming me as Greece’s thriller writer of record, and Library Journal selecting Kaldis #9, An Aegean April, as “one of the best books of 2018.”

In all honesty, I think The Mykonos Mob is my best book yet. But don’t take my word for it, here’s what Ragnar Jónasson, author of the brilliant Dark Iceland series has to say about it: “A perfect setting and first rate storytelling.”

The Mykonos Mob draws upon my thirty-five years on Mykonos watching that gem of an Aegean island evolve from its simple agrarian and seafaring roots into a 24/7 glitzy playground for the world’s rich and famous.

The case begins for Athens’ Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis with a literal bang when a corrupt former police colonel who runs a protection racket on Mykonos is gunned down. Suddenly, Kaldis is face-to-face with Greece’s top crime bosses on an island whose natural beauty and reputation as an international playground belies the corruption lurking just beneath the surface.

While Andreas and his Special Crimes unit wrestle for answers, Andreas’s wife, Lila, meets an American expat named Toni, a finder of stolen goods and a piano player in a gender-bending bar who has a zest for life and no apparent regard for rules. As Lila and Toni bond over a common desire to mentor young island girls trapped in an exploitative and patriarchal culture, they soon find that their efforts to improve the lives of the girls they’ve come to care about intersect with Andreas’ investigation in ways that prove to be dangerous for all involved.

Think #MeToo meets the Mob.

I know you’ll enjoy it, but to help you decide, here’s the first scene of The Mykonos Mob:

He never wondered about the purpose of life or how he turned out as he had. It all just sort of happened. He became a cop because he saw it as the surest way for a kid born into Greece’s working class in the tumultuous early 1960s to make a living. He got lucky when, after the fall of the Military Junta in 1974, he joined the youth movement of a left-wing political party that came to power in 1981 and remembered to reward its loyal friends.

As he rose in rank, the more friends and money he made, the more power he amassed. He kept careful track of where the bodies were buried and possessed an uncanny instinct for digging up the ones he needed to achieve his purposes. An effort by the opposition party to paint him as corrupt failed when the prosecution’s main witness died in a boating accident. An investigation into the witness’s death faded away soon after he announced his decision to retire from the Hellenic Police force with the rank of colonel.

That’s when he began to make truly big money, capitalizing on his contacts and former position as head of police for the South Aegean Region, home to Greece’s most popular tourist islands for the rich and hard-partying globetrotting crowd.

Tonight, the Colonel was far away from all that glitz and glamour. He sat in a restaurant in a nondescript, middle-class eastern suburb of Athens, virtually equidistant from downtown Athens, its port town of Rafina, and Venizelos International airport.

“A convenient place for a meeting,” said the one who’d arranged it.

The Colonel leaned back in his chair and yawned. The conversation had been as boring as the meal. Everything about the place was mediocre, from its tired, thirty-year-old decor to the hookers at the bar, and the ruddy-faced, pudgy man sitting across the table from him who had yet to say why their mutual business acquaintance thought they should meet.

“Am I keeping you awake, Colonel?”

“Barely.”

Ruddy-face smiled. “How do you like my place?”

The Colonel leaned forward. It was long past time to get down to business. “If this is your joint, why don’t you just tell me why you wanted to meet? You sure as hell don’t need my services to run this operation.”

“You’re right, it’s a dump.” Ruddy-face paused. “But I have plans.”

“What sort of plans?”

“I’m buying a club on the islands. It’s going to be first-class in every way.” He nodded toward the bar. “Including the girls.”

“Which island?”

“One you control.”

“Control is a mighty big word.”

Ruddy-face smiled. “Let’s just say, I don’t like the idea of getting involved in a business where my investment isn’t secure.”

“That’s prudent of you.”

“Can you help me?”

“If you’re asking for security, the answer is yes.”

“I’m talking about protection for all aspects of my business.”

The Colonel shrugged. “It’s all a matter of price. You tell me what you want, and I’ll tell you what it will cost you.”

“I hear you’re pricey.”

“You heard right. But I make sure things run smoothly.”

“How do you do that?”

“I don’t have competitors stirring things up, jockeying for business. I maintain order among the chaos.”

“They might see things differently.”

“If by they you mean competitors, there are no they on my island. I’m the only game in town.”

“I get your point,” said the man. “I’m sure we’ll come to terms.”

“If you want to open a club where I’m in business, I’m sure we will.”

The Colonel declined an offer of coffee, and the two men agreed to talk again once ruddy-face had a better idea of what he might need from the Colonel.

He walked the Colonel to the front door, shook his hand, thanked him for coming, and wished him safe travels. “Kalo taxidhi.”

But the Colonel only made it as far as the front door of his Mercedes.

______________________

And it takes off from there….

When Steve Berry appeared at The Poisoned Pen recently, he had the chance to reminisce with bookstore owner Barbara Peters. He appeared at the bookstore with his first book, The Amber Room. He said he was thrilled that fifteen people showed up for a first-time author. You’ll be able to see the size of the audience he drew for his latest book, The Malta Exchange. You can pick up copies of both his first and most recent book through the Web Store, and The Malta Exchange will be a signed copy. https://bit.ly/2VMHInj

Here’s the summary of The Malta Exchange.

“The result is a thriller that intrigues and provides historical context. Berry is the master scientist with a perfect formula.” — Associated Press

One of USA Today‘s “Five Books Not to Miss!”

The next in New York Times top 5 bestseller Steve Berry’s Cotton Malone series involves the Knights of Malta, papal conclave, and lost documents that could change history.  

A deadly race for the Vatican’s oldest secret fuels New York Times bestseller Steve Berry’s latest international Cotton Malone thriller. 

The pope is dead. A conclave to select his replacement is about to begin. Cardinals are beginning to arrive at the Vatican, but one has fled Rome for Malta in search of a document that dates back to the 4th century and Constantine the Great.  

Former Justice Department operative, Cotton Malone, is at Lake Como, Italy, on the trail of legendary letters between Winston Churchill and Benito Mussolini that disappeared in 1945 and could re-write history. But someone else seems to be after the same letters and, when Malone obtains then loses them, he’s plunged into a hunt that draws the attention of the legendary Knights of Malta.

The knights have existed for over nine hundred years, the only warrior-monks to survive into modern times. Now they are a global humanitarian organization, but within their ranks lurks trouble — the Secreti — an ancient sect intent on affecting the coming papal conclave. With the help of Magellan Billet agent Luke Daniels, Malone races the rogue cardinal, the knights, the Secreti, and the clock to find what has been lost for centuries. The final confrontation culminates behind the walls of the Vatican where the election of the next pope hangs in the balance.

*****

And, you can watch and listen as Steve Berry and Barbara Peters reminisce below.

Congratulations to two Poisoned Pen Press/Sourcebooks award nominees!

Sourcebooks announced this on their recent blog. “We’re “‹happy to share that Forty Dead Men by Donis Casey and Undercurrents by Mary Anna Evans are finalists for the 2019 Oklahoma Book Awards!

“‹The Oklahoma Book Awards are sponsored by the Oklahoma Department of Libraries and honor books from Oklahoma-based authors, or those books that feature Oklahoma.”

The series by both Donis Casey and Mary Anna Evans are available through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

This must be the week to discuss spies. Author Charles McCarry, who was a CIA operative, may have been forgotten in recent years. However, the Associated Press referred to him as the “dean” or “poet laureate” of American spy writers. Most of his books, including the bestselling The Tears of Autumn, about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, have to be special ordered through the Web Store. However, readers who are curious can find some titles immediately available. https://bit.ly/2VFQTWC

Charles McCarry died Tuesday at the age of 88. The New York Times carried his obituary under the title “Charles McCarry, 88, Spy Turned Master Spy Novelist, Is Dead.” https://nyti.ms/2EEv0B6

They also carried a second article in the Arts section, “Charles McCarry, Prescient Spy Novelist, Dead at 88”. https://nyti.ms/2EGf69y

May he rest in peace.

The current Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen is a nonfiction title, Matti Friedman’s Spies Of No Country. Friedman’s books, including signed copies of Spies of No Country, can be ordered through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2NGMboB

Here’s the description of Spies of No Country.

Award-winning writer Matti Friedman’s tale of Israel’s first spies has all the tropes of an espionage novel, including duplicity, betrayal, disguise, clandestine meetings, the bluff, and the double bluff–but it’s all true.

“The four spies at the center of this story were part of a ragtag unit known as the Arab Section, conceived during World War II by British spies and Jewish militia leaders in Palestine. Intended to gather intelligence and carry out sabotage and assassinations, the unit consisted of Jews who were native to the Arab world and could thus easily assume Arab identities. In 1948, with Israel’s existence in the balance during the War of Independence, our spies went undercover in Beirut, where they spent the next two years operating out of a kiosk, collecting intelligence, and sending messages back to Israel via a radio whose antenna was disguised as a clothesline. While performing their dangerous work these men were often unsure to whom they were reporting, and sometimes even who they’d become. Of the dozen spies in the Arab Section at the war’s outbreak, five were caught and executed. But in the end the Arab Section would emerge, improbably, as the nucleus of the Mossad, Israel’s vaunted intelligence agency.

Spies of No Country is about the slippery identities of these young spies, but it’s also about Israel’s own complicated and fascinating identity. Israel sees itself and presents itself as a Western nation, when in fact more than half the country has Middle Eastern roots and traditions, like the spies of this story. And, according to Friedman, that goes a long way toward explaining the life and politics of the country, and why it often baffles the West. For anyone interested in real-life spies and the paradoxes of the Middle East, Spies of No Country is an intimate story with global significance.”

Isabella Maldonado appears at The Poisoned Pen on Friday, March 8 at 7 PM. In preparation for the discussion of her latest book, Death Blow, featuring homicide detective Veranda Cruz, Maldonado’s character will be joining her for this interview. You can order copies of the series, including a signed copy of Death Blow, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2Vxff4A

*****

Isabella Maldonado, author of the Veranda Cruz mysteries, is my guest author today. The first in the series, Blood’s Echo, was the winner of the 2018 Mariposa Award for Best First Novel. It introduced Police Detective Veranda Cruz, who heads up an elite task force in the Phoenix Police Drug Enforcement Bureau. That’s important to know, because Veranda is going to interview Isabella today.

*****

DETECTIVE VERANDA CRUZ INTERVIEWS ISABELLA MALDONADO

ISABELLA: Why are we in an interview room at police headquarters? Am I under arrest?

VERANDA: Did I read you your rights? Are you handcuffed to the table?

I: No, but we could be doing this over a latte.

V: I don’t do lattes. I do interrogations. 

I: Let’s get to it then. What do you want to know?

V: Are you a sadist or something? Why do I go from one nightmare scenario to another? I’m lucky if I have a moment to get a bite to eat before the next disaster.

I: You manage to eat just fine. In fact, I keep hearing from people who want me to divulge your mother’s recipe for carne asada.

V: Don’t mess with mamá. She’ll hurt you. Her weapon of choice is guilt, which she uses freely on me.

I: People don’t want to hear about routine assignments. They want the good stuff. The exciting stuff. When I was on the job, people never asked what I had for lunch, they always asked about my most memorable cases.

V: Okay, so you were a cop. Are any of the things that happen to me based on real cases?

I: I do borrow scenarios from real life, but the characters and the specifics are fictitious. 

V: For example?

I: Do you remember the DC Beltway Sniper case?

V: Who doesn’t?

I: I was on the job in the DC Metro area at the time, and I’ll never forget the total panic throughout the entire region. Some parents kept their kids home from school, gas station owners put up massive tarps so people could fill their tanks without fear of getting shot, and media outlets sent correspondents from around the world to cover the story. Tension in the community and in law enforcement circles was higher than I’d ever seen it. I used that feeling as a backdrop for the events in the second book in the series, PHOENIX BURNING.

V: So you worked back east, but you write about the desert southwest. What’s up with that?

I: By the time I retired, I was sick of freezing cold winters and sticky humid summers. The desert made a refreshing change of pace. I fell in love with the southwest. As far as my writing goes, I decided not to feature my own department. Maybe I will down the road.

V: Wait, what? Does that mean you’re going to write about somebody besides me in the future?

I: Don’t worry, I won’t leave you hanging, but I do have other projects in mind going forward.

V: In all my stories (I call them my stories because I’m the one getting shot at) there’s a fair amount 

of forensic science. My most recent case, which you wrote about in DEATH BLOW, genetics and DNA are important. How did you learn about that stuff?

I: When I retired, I was a captain. My last position was Commander of Special Investigations and Forensics, so I had some background in that area. I don’t pretend to be a scientist, so I did a lot of research and interviewed the director of a forensic lab to be sure I got my facts straight. Turns out the science has progressed since I retired. 

V: So you research a lot?

I: Absolutely. In the first book, BLOOD’S ECHO, I interviewed an arson investigator to be sure the facts about fire investigations were accurate.

V: Don’t talk to me about arson investigators, that’s a sore subject. I finally get to meet a hunky fireman—who somehow isn’t scared off by my mother’s not-so-subtle matchmaking—and you just can’t leave well enough alone, can you? My poor mother is afraid I’ll never settle down.

I: Don’t you think you have enough going on without worrying about changing dirty diapers right now anyway?

V: Yeah. Thanks to you, I seem to keep stepping in the stuff that normally ends up in a diaper.

I: See, that’s exactly the kind of remark that gets you in trouble. Frankly, you could use more supervision.

V: Seriously? Lieutenant Diaz is all over me. He writes me up, suspends me from duty, and threatens to take my badge about every two weeks on general principle.

I: As a former captain, I can’t blame him. Unlike you, Lieutenant Diaz follows orders. If you both worked under my command, I’d have to support him.

V: Typical brass. Always sticking together.

I: You’re an excellent detective, Veranda, but not so great at sticking to procedure. Running headlong into trouble could get you killed one of these days.

V: Is that a threat, captain?

I: Take it as you wish…

*****

Death Blow is scheduled for release on March 8. Here’s the summary of the book.

Homicide detective Veranda Cruz takes on the most ruthless member of the Villalobos cartel in this fast-paced follow up to Phoenix Burning  

Phoenix homicide detective Veranda Cruz is on a mission. After Hector Villalobos tried to destroy her family, Veranda vowed to take down his powerful crime family. Beautiful, shrewd, and lethal, Daria Villalobos is on a mission of her own. Determined to be the first woman to take the reins of her father’s notorious cartel, she hatches a plot to eliminate Veranda, framing a rival to take the fall.  

When the investigation blows up in Veranda’s face, the hunt is on to stop the bomber. Now she must battle her department and her personal demons as she takes on Daria. To survive her most cunning adversary yet, will she make a pact with a killer? 

*****

Thank you, Isabella. Here’s Isabella Maldonado’s biography.

Isabella Maldonado is an award-winning author, retired police captain, and regular contributor on News Channel 12 (Phoenix NBC affiliate) as a law enforcement expert. Her last police position was Commander of Special Investigations and Forensics. During her career, she was a hostage negotiator, department spokesperson, and precinct commander prior to attending executive management training at the FBI National Academy in Quantico. The first Latina to attain the rank of captain on her department, she received Meritorious Service and Lifesaving Awards. Isabella is a past president of the Phoenix Metro chapter of Sisters in Crime. She lives in the greater Phoenix area, where she writes the Det. Cruz mystery series. Her debut novel, BLOOD’S ECHO, won the 2018 Mariposa Award for Best First Book. The second in the series, PHOENIX BURNING, received a starred review in Publishers Weekly and was named one of the best suspense books of 2018 by Book Riot. The third installment, DEATH BLOW, will be published on March 8, 2019 and is available for pre-order now.

In 2016, Sulari Gentill was “In the Hot Seat” on this blog. To this day, she gave one of my favorite answers to an interview question, where would you take visitors who came to Australia. You can find that interview here. https://bit.ly/2TvZrBI

Gentill has gone on to receive the recognition she deserves for her writing. Last year, she won the Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Novel for Crossing the Lines. Now, her sixth Rowland Sinclair novel, A Murder Unmentioned, is available. You can order it, and her other novels, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2DdMLE1

Here’s the summary of A Murder Unmentioned.

The gun used in Rowland Sinclair’s father’s death some thirteen years earlier has turned up in a drained dam at the family’s country homestead in Yass. And when Rowland offends right-wing New Guard leader Eric Campbell, Campbell uses his influence to set the police to renew their inquiries into Henry Sinclair’s death.

Henry’s friends had all been led to believe that the wealthy landowner had died in a much more respectable way. Rowland and his elder brother, Wil, had avoided any discussion of the event ever since—in fact the whole family had ducked the issue for over a decade, keeping secret that Sinclair senior was murdered. The possible involvement of the teenage Rowly and his older brother’s intervention has been under the radar as well.

But now the finger of blame is pointing squarely at the Sinclair black sheep, a man careless of what society and the authorities think of him. So he and the trio of artist friends who live in his Sydney suburban mansion, and generally have his back, avail themselves of a racing green Gypsy Moth (Rowland is a pioneer in air travel) and a yellow Mercedes sports car (another frightening mode of transport) to arrive in New South Wales’ Southern Tablelands, bent on clearing Rowly’s name.

With cameo appearances from historical figures—Bob Menzies in the Sinclair kitchen, Edna Walling in the garden, and Kate Leigh grinning lasciviously at Rowly in a jailhouse crowd—and a real sense of fun contrasting with the quite genuine tension, this is historical crime for those in the know and those who can barely remember what happened last weekend, a story of family secrets and fraternal loyalty. Despite the humor, the Rowland Sinclair Mysteries take a deadly serious look at the 1930s, reflecting our own tumultuous times.

*****

Why bring up Sulari Gentill’s A Murder Unmentioned now? Jessica Howard just reviewed the book for Shelf Awareness for Readers, if you’d like to read the review. https://bit.ly/2TaI3TR

“Greg Iles is back and at the top of his game.” That’s a quote from Bill Sheehan in The Washington Post. Greg Iles will also be at The Poisoned Pen on Tuesday, March 19 at 7 PM. You can pre-order a signed copy of his new book, Cemetery Road, through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2XvH3Im

Sheehan also said, “In the precision and power of its language and its sheer amplitude of detail, Iles’s latest calls to mind the late, great Southern novelist Pat Conroy. Like Conroy, Iles writes with passion, intensity and an absolute commitment to the material at hand. The success of his recent Natchez Burning trilogy was clearly no fluke.” You can read Sheehan’s entire review here. https://wapo.st/2XvHa6K

Sheehan summarizes Cemetery Road in his review, but, in case you don’t read the article, here’s the description from the Web Store.

Sometimes the price of justice is a good man’s soul.

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Natchez Burning trilogy returns with an electrifying tale of friendship, betrayal, and shattering secrets that threaten to destroy a small Mississippi town.

“[A] compulsively readable thriller… Iles once again delivers a sweeping tale of family dysfunction, sexually charged secrets, and the power of wealth, with an overlay of violence and Southern sensibility.”
   — Publishers Weekly(starred review)

When Marshall McEwan left his Mississippi hometown at eighteen, he vowed never to return. The trauma that drove him away spurred him to become one of the most successful journalists in Washington, DC. But as the ascendancy of a chaotic administration lifts him from print fame to television stardom, Marshall discovers that his father is terminally ill, and he must return home to face the unfinished business of his past.

On arrival, he finds Bienville, Mississippi very much changed.  His family’s 150-year-old newspaper is failing; and Jet Turner, the love of his youth, has married into the family of Max Matheson, one of a dozen powerful patriarchs who rule the town through the exclusive Bienville Poker Club.  To Marshall’s surprise, the Poker Club has taken a town on the brink of extinction and offered it salvation, in the form of a billion-dollar Chinese paper mill.  But on the verge of the deal being consummated, two murders rock Bienville to its core, threatening far more than the city’s economic future.

An experienced journalist, Marshall has seen firsthand how the corrosive power of money and politics can sabotage investigations. Joining forces with his former lover—who through her husband has access to the secrets of the Poker Club—Marshall begins digging for the truth behind those murders.  But he and Jet soon discover that the soil of Mississippi is a minefield where explosive secrets can destroy far more than injustice.  The South is a land where everyone hides truths: of blood and children, of love and shame, of hate and murder—of damnation and redemption.  The Poker Club’s secret reaches all the way to Washington, D.C., and could shake the foundations of the U.S. Senate.  But by the time Marshall grasps the long-buried truth about his own history, he would give almost anything not to have to face it.