Publisher's Synopsis
Professional genealogist Nick Herald must rescue a Louisiana Indian tribe's future from a deadly past! Big trouble plagues rural central Louisiana when the small tribe of nearly assimilated Katogoula Indians unexpectedly receives federal recognition. In a cruel irony, will good fortune mean the death of the tribe? Spirits long ignored begin to haunt the pine forest. Outsiders pour into the isolated community. Tribal unity unravels. Someone-or something-is murdering tribe members! Into this crisis comes Nick Herald, sleuth and professional genealogist from New Orleans. The tribe has hired him to help establish guidelines for membership, often a delicate task in which treasured heritage and large sums of money are at stake. Putting the newly recognized Katogoula Tribe on a firm foundation is just the sort of lucrative job that will allow Nick to pay his loyal, brilliant, wheelchair-using sidekick, Hawty Latimer, what she's worth. But the lure of huge casino profits brings out the worst in everyone. Nick soon finds that he's landed in the middle of a free-for-all involving other Louisiana tribes, crooked politicians, a powerful local family, mercenary gambling syndicates, and ruthless drug runners. And what's more, the family secrets of central Louisiana's piney woods are as deadly as the genealogical masquerades of New Orleans. Hidden forces want Nick off the case, dead or alive. Stubborn sleuth that he is, Nick probes forbidden subjects to learn why tribal recognition is turning out to be not the expected jackpot, but a murderous disaster for the Katogoula. He scours family and tribal histories and calls on his knowledge of American Indian genealogy. Assisting him on the scene is an amateur ethnographer, a gorgeous woman Nick falls for, even though he questions her role in the deadly drama. Contemporary human plotters and undying genealogical demons assail the intrepid investigator as he digs up buried ancient malice in his quest to save the resurrected tribe. Nick realizes that unless he stops the evil, his Katogoula friends and their storied ancestry face extinction, just as their dream of rebirth seems so close. He confronts an age-old fury that stalks the Katogoula Indians and threatens their very survival-and his! Other Nick Herald Louisiana genealogical mysteries by Jimmy Fox: DEADLY PEDIGREE and LINEAGES AND LIES.
