Paid in Spades

nly two weeks after a violent gunfight in the alley behind Holliday's in New Orleans' French Quarter, slacker jazz cornetist and knight errant Pat Gallegher finds himself saddled with two missing person cases. A man to whom he owes an unpayable debt has disappeared after exacting a promise that Gallegher would find him. Gallegher's girlfriend, Merlie Comineau, has asked him to find the missing father of a young girl who needs a knee operation.

What begins as a routine investigation throws Gallegher and his new musical partner Chick Kasay in the path of Brazilian smugglers, corporate fraud, trading in endangered species, bumbling private investigators, and a oligarchic billionaire who believes everything has a price--including murder.

Pat Gallegher tales have been nominated for the PWA Shamus Award and SMFS Derringer Award, and have won the ITW Thriller Award. Don't miss the latest installment in this New Orleans crime saga!