A dynamite detective duo like no other!
She’s Queen Latifah. He’s Danny DeVito. Or they would be if this were a movie—in print, they’re Talba Wallis and Eddie Valentino. Talba (aka the Baroness of Pontabla) has got the beauty, the brains, the computer savvy, the poetic soul, the youth, the right demographic, and the sass. Eddie’s got the detective agency. Also a short fuse and yes, wisdom. Not only do they make it work, they’ve got chemistry—and they’re turning it up to battle the sinister past of smalltown Louisiana, the killer of a Gatsby girl (minus the glamour), and the dirty local politics of the good ole’ Big Easy. All for a wicked bargain, as Eddie would say.
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LOUISIANA BIGSHOT
The hottest detective duo in New Orleans is going to need every skill and ounce of courage they can summon in this intricate tale of a decades-old conspiracy only now coming home to roost, with the murder of Talba’s friend Babalu Maya. Babalu is actually Clayton Robineau, daughter of the local banker in a small Louisiana town that bears her name, a town buried under the weight of its own malevolent past.
As Talba and Eddie investigate, they find that something terrible happened to Clayton as a child, an injury—both pscyhic and physical--so bizarre, so shameful and damning that almost anyone in town would kill to cover it up.
LOUISIANA LAMENT
One stormy day Talba gets an emergency call from Janessa, the sister she barely knows, and arrives to find a body floating in a swimming pool—the mortal husk of Allyson Brown, known in New Orleans literary circles as the Girl Gatsby. Like Gatsby, Allyson was one of those mysterious rich people who move to town, give amazing parties, and seem made of moonbeams.
Investigating, Talba finds the reality behind the Gatsby glamour. Allyson was a con artist who neglected her children, ignored her bills, and lied like a Ponzi schemer. But she wasn’t the only bad actor on the local literary scene. Fellow poet Rashad leads Talba a merry chase, leaving a trail of clues in the form of poetry, while novelists engage in fisticuffs, unseemly preening, and unforgivable arrogance.
The Baroness discovers just how seamy, petty, and downright murderous her fellow literati can be.
P.I. ON A HOT TIN ROOF
YOUR LAWYER NEEDS YOU TO BAIL HER OUT? ISN'T THAT KIND OF BACKWARDS?
So thinks PI Talba Wallis, on her way to Parish Prison—and indeed something’s badly amiss.
New Orleans’ most dynamic detective duo have a personal interest in this one—Eddie’s lawyer daughter Angie’s been set up for a drug bust.
Talba embeds herself in the house of prominent Judge Buddy Champagne as a spy, and uncovers plenty of evidence the judge is dirty—but she doesn't count on how involved she was going to get—especially with Buddy’s 14-year-old daughter Lucy.
There are plenty of mysterious twists and turns on the way to an ending guaranteed to surprise—but the real joy here is in the relationships.
