New Orleans Mourning

It's Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and civic leader and socialite Chauncey St. Amant has been crowned Rex, King of Carnival. But his day of glory comes to an abrupt and bloody end when a parade-goer dressed as Dolly Parton guns him down. Enter resourceful heroine Skip Langdon, a rookie police officer and former debutante turned cynic of the Uptown crowd. Langdon, with all her outsider anxiety, family dysfunction, and yet overall toughness, has long been a favorite of those who like their female sleuths bold, smart, and refreshingly human.