For Lauren,
my phenomenal editor and a dedicated champion of the books. This is our tenth project together, and it's still as crazy and exciting as the first. Acknowledgments Many, many thanks to my fantastic agent Robin Rue. So happy to be working with you. To Caroline Phipps, my steadfast friend who's always willing to do a midnight line-edit. To Gena Showalter, because my life's a more meaningful (and riotous) trip with you in it. And to Roxanne St. Claire, a.k.a. G.U.F. Did I happen to mention you're my rock? Prologue New Orleans August 24, 1927 I'll kill you for spurning me... . Struggling to block out memories of Louis Robicheaux's latest threat, N