Just Jennifer

Burnt Black by Ed Kovacs (Minotaur, 2013)

New Orleans homicide detective Cliff St. James is helping his partner Honey Baybee look for houses for her mother when they hear shots fired at a house next door and find themselves in the middle of an investigation steeped in voodoo, superstitions and alternate religions.  In the house of Robert Drake, professor of the occult, Cliff and Honey find two of his handymen dead atop an altar, evidence of recent sexual activity, but no evidence of foul play, in fact, the two men look scared to death.  Normally, Cliff, who is also a PI, and his partner only work the most confounding, high profile homicide cases, but get permission to work this case even though the two disagree on the nature of the deaths: Honey does not suspect foul-play at all.  Not even two years after Hurricane Katrina, Chief Pointer knows that sensational murders will not be good for the tourist trade in New Orleans and tells the partners to solve the case quickly and quietly.  As Cliff and Honey begin to work their way into Drake’s inner circle, they find themselves further in than just voodoo and tourist traps, but find a Mexican drug cartel who appears to be the chief supplier of the human heads Drake often requires and Cliff finds himself on the most wanted list of these evil men.  Many of the strange occurrences during the investigation, Cliff can chalk up to coincidence, not believing for a moment in hoodoo and superstition, but if that’s so, why does he continue to wear a talisman around his neck?  New Orleans is written not just as a setting, but as an old friend, with much affection for the city struggling to make a comeback after a devastating storm.  The occult occurrences are written with the degree of seriousness they need within this mystery, and not treated as a touristy gimmick; the plot is well-laid out with several surprises along the way.  The final surprise involving one of the characters Cliff encounters during his investigation, is  a little unbelievable given what Cliff knows, learned and didn’t learn, but does allow him to mark closed to one aspect of his life, though this may not be the best way to do it.