"It's impossible to think of the Louisiana bayou without conjuring up James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux books" (<i>Chicago Tribune</i>) , including this early masterwork that pits the Cajun police detective against one of the New South's most twisted and powerful forces. Oil speculator Weldon Sonnier is the patriarch of a troubled family intimately bound to the CIA, the Mob, and the Klan. Now, the murder of a cop and a bizarre assassination attempt pull Robicheaux into the Sonniers' hellish world of madness, murder, and incest. But Robicheaux has devils of his own - and they may just destroy the tormented investigator and the two people he holds most dear.
