BAYOU VENOM

A biology student engaging in a field test in poisonous snake- and rat-filled New Orleans swampland literally stumbles on the bloated corpse of a man who recently interviewed her for a job.

In Cagney’s first O’Malley Family Mystery, Tulane graduate student and jazz clarinet player Aislinn “Ash” Jones, wading in a swamp, squishes something under her boot. It’s the nose of the deceased Laughton Cockcroft, director of the nonprofit Swamp Life Society. With the hope of securing an internship with the society, Ash recently interviewed with Cockcroft. Nine days before Ash discovered Cockcroft’s body, two young men were found dead in the swamp. When NOLA Police Det. John O’Malley gets the call about the victims, his partner (and longtime lover), Jay Cordone, remarks that the body count is now eight in five months. Jay and John are both from large families; in fact, John’s sister, Erin, is also a police officer. Another local family is the Thibodeauxs; teenager Robbie Thibodeaux is one of the latest victims in the bayou. His sister, Clarise, tells John her brother was involved with a man conducting some sort of experiments. Shortly afterward, Clarise disappears—because of foul play or is she in hiding? In one of many coincidences, Ash, who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks with an alcoholic, drug-addicted sex worker mother, used to know Robbie when he was a child—even changed his diapers. The gripping novel’s interconnected families smack of a soap opera with crime as a foundation and Ash as the unsuspecting linchpin. Double-crosses, murder, rape, snake venom, and hungry gators will hold the audience’s attention. There’s perhaps too much of everything, or, as Ash would say when talking about New Orleans, things are “always lagniappe—a little extra.” Despite the crimes and wildlife attacks, there is engaging humor in the book. But some bits don’t ring true, as when Cockcroft reveals to Ash details about another candidate for the job he is offering, or when Ash recalls she once needed a public defender because she stole a candy bar. And wouldn’t eight murders in five months be reason to bring in the FBI?

A spicy and satisfying Cajun stew of twists, violence, and secrets.