After a few harrowing months of stumbling through catacombs beneath a New Orleans cemetery, evading alligators at Bayou Teche, and dodging a band of fanatics searching for a crystal skull and torching rap clubs, Tony Boudreaux figures he deserves a rest. So when a San Antonio client offers a $10,000 retainer to find a priceless map hidden in his deceased father's den, Tony takes the job. He enjoys the ambience of the city and the exotic venue of the River Walk.To his dismay, the simple task of finding a hidden map explodes into a series of attempts on his life and two murders with over a half dozen suspects, all of whom stood to gain from the map rumored to have been ancient even in the time of Alexander the Great.

When Jack Edney is assaulted and hospitalized in Priouxville on the banks of Ghost Bayou near Bayou Teche in Louisiana, Tony Boudreaux foregoes his long anticipated vacation to aid his best friend. He is surprised to learn that Jack’s unknown assailants were searching for hidden diamonds, but the jewels turned out to be the least of his worries.In his efforts to uncover who attacked Jack, he stumbles onto three murders the locals attributed to the mythical Loup Garou, a shape-changing creature roaming the swamps. The deeper he pries into the mystery of the diamonds, the more he becomes a target himself.His hunt for the stolen gems and those responsible for Jack’s assault takes him into the chilling eighteenth century culture of backwater swamps, the unholy mysteries of New Orleans, and the furtive backroom schemes of local politics.

It should've been an easy job for a private investigator—house-sit some cats for a couple weeks and rake in a few thousand bucks thanks to their eccentric owner's bottomless bank account—practically a vacation.At least, that's what Tony Boudreaux figures until he finds himself trying to herd a veritable horde of cats, navigate a sprawling mansion with hidden tunnels, and deal with an eccentric staff who all harbor their own secrets. And that's before the murder!After witnessing a homicide on his first night on the job, Tony soon finds himself fending off attempts on his own life, unraveling a massive drug-dealing ring, and dealing with the not-entirely-unwanted attentions of a spoiled heiress—all while keeping the mansion's many feline inhabitants alive and well.Now Tony must dig up clues on a 15-year-old murder mystery and determine what it has to do with the recent death. And the cats themselves may be his only chance of getting out of this deadly predicament alive.

Tony Boudreaux's family had a saying that "good things happen in threes." However, instead of three days of rich Cajun food, dancing, and laughing over old times at his family reunion at Whiskey Bend in the middle of the Atchafalaya Swamp, Tony Boudreaux faces trouble.Tony and his family find themselves not only cut off from the rest of the world by Belle, a Category Three hurricane, but also confronted with voodoo wangas, an angry family trying to lynch one of its own and a psychotic killer who has decided to double the Boudreaux and Thibodeaux populations in the family cemetery—and by the most unique methods.This means Tony has to work quickly—before the hurricane strikes and before the murderer kills again.

A Melungeon beauty, the sister of an old boyhood chum, comes to private eye Tony Boudreaux, hoping he can help clear her brother's name. Tony takes the case out of a sense of loyalty but has no idea that the trail will lead to the underbelly of smuggling and drugs in the seamy intrigue of New Orleans's gangland and to the man responsible for the professional execution of his young cousin several months earlier.Forced to go undercover, Tony fashions a cover story that will usher him into the confidence of Bones Guilbeaux, the cold-eyed leader of a diabolical band of smugglers who kill without compunction. His pursuit of the killer leads him through a labyrinth of dark halls, hidden courtyards, secret rooms, and narrow passages where he frantically tries to stay one step ahead of those he pursues.

Even as a child listening to the hushed, fearful stories told around dying fires of the loup garous that prowled the Louisiana prairies and ghosted through dark swamps, Tony Boudreaux always viewed them with the skepticism of an enlightened individual. Cauchemars turning living creatures, both human and animal, into supernatural beings was the fodder of middle age ignorance.But when the body of a prominent banker is discovered in the belly of a 16-foot alligator and Tony agrees to look into the incident, death latches onto his scent like a cottonmouth water moccasin stalking a wounded swamp rabbit.Deep in the dark bayou, surrounded by bellowing alligators, Tony learns the truth he hated to admit while trying to unravel the mystery of the banker's murder.