Nick Fourcade’s beat is the Bayou Breaux district of Louisiana. After the discovery of a young boy’s mutilated body, Fourcade is told by the boy’s mother that she was awakened by his dying screams, but the detective has his doubts. Was she in fact responsible for the gruesome killing? With the aid of fellow cop Annie Broussard, Fourcade uncovers revelations about the past of the murdered boy’s mother. We’ve seen the relationship depicted here between male and female detectives a hundred times, but there are other virtues present: the vibrant evocation of rural Louisiana — we are given a glossary to cope with the Cajun French occasionally spoken — and a poetic use of language.
