No Second Chances

April 24, 2017
Bruns brings the chaotic frenzy of Mardi Gras to life in his second novel featuring New Orleans homicide detective Quentin Archer (after 2016’s Casting Bones). Spray canisters of Chill, a gas that instantly cools down bottles of wine as well as providing a quick high when inhaled, are found under the bodies of three seemingly random murder victims. The pressure is on Archer and his partner, Josh Levy, to find out what the common denominator is before another person ends up dead. The case meanders along, with false starts and a dearth of clues, until Archer calls on his small collection of friends/informers: Mike, the gregarious bartender; Alexia Chantel, a former pharmacist turned stripper; and Solange Corday, the beautiful psychic and voodoo practitioner with whom Quentin is smitten. What starts out as a search for a serial killer loops into something even bigger, more sinister, and far-reaching. Those expecting some really creepy voodoo will have to settle for a little lackluster black magic. Agent: Jill Marr, Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.

May 15, 2017
The Chill Thrill Kills. That's what a New Orleans newspaper calls a string of knife murders in the Big Easy. Chill is a spray can of nitroxicetylene, used to cool warm bottled beer and wine in a hurry, found next to each corpse. Why? Homicide detective Quentin Archer has to find out. He gets help from Solange Cordray, a voodoo woman he publicly scoffs at. But when she asks for a can of Chill to hold because there's energy in inanimate things, he's quick to obey. Archer's spooky scenes with her are among the best parts of the book. Another is a lengthy sequence of cops studying videos of tumultuous street scenes, attempting to find somethinganythingthat would lead them to the killer. Sounds prosaic, but Bruns manages to wring remarkable tension out of that scene. Too much time is spent on a subplot about a turf war between cocaine dealers, but thriller readers eager for a taste of something creepy will find what they want here. Go for the voodoo. And the video from that camera mounted on a stick. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

March 1, 2018
This is the third in Bruns' agreeable New Orleans series, each one featuring a police inquiry backgrounded by the raucous goings-on in the Big Easy. This time there is no Dixieland music in the background; instead, there are the sounds of looting and violence that accompany a race riot. Again the star is police officer Quentin Archer, who was forced to flee the Detroit PD after he exposed a drug ring inside the department. His wife was killed, and his cop brothers turned on him. He doesn't dwell on this. Instead, he grapples with a puzzle. A cop, Leroy, has been murdered as racial tensions escalate. A little digging reveals that decades ago Leroy was a security guard who nabbed a couple of thieves. They were never prosecuted. Why not? Then a truck driver was killed when his truck was hijacked. The responding cop was Leroy. Watching Archer struggle to connect these pieces is the fun here, and the well-choreographed gunplay that erupts when he gets close helps, too.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)