Thrown-Away Child

This "irresistible" police procedural "bares the New Orleans underbelly few tourists get to see" ( Publishers Weekly, starred review).   NYPD detective Neil Hockaday has traveled to the Big Easy, hometown of his wife, African-American actress Ruby Flagg. Her family was driven from their home long ago by an evangelical church and fell on hard times, but Ruby fled and found a life for herself in New York.   And this won't be a peaceful visit for Hock. In a city famed as much for its corruption as its cuisine, he'll become entangled in a web of not only family secrets but also politics and murder, dealing with a preacher, a scamming alderman, and even some voodoo, with only a little time left over to attend a jazz funeral or take in the other city sights . . .   "Intelligent . . . sharp-witted and perceptive." —Susan Isaacs, author of Compromising Positions   "Compelling." — Los Angeles Times   "Marvelous characters." — The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)