Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead

In this captivating first in a projected series from Gran (Dope), PI Claire DeWitt comes to New Orleans to help a client, Leon Salvatore, find his ADA uncle, Vic Willing, who went missing at the time of Hurricane Katrina. Claire relies often on the "maddening... notoriously difficult" D%C3%A9tection by legendary French detective Jacques Silette ("No one is innocent. The only question is How will you bear your portion of guilt?") as well as her dreams for guidance. In one dream, Vic tells her, in language that echoes Silette's handbook, to: "Follow the clues.... Believe nothing. Question everything." Suspicion falls on an 18-year-old career-criminal-in-the-making, Andray Fairview, who once worked for Vic and broke into his house. Claire is soon sucked into the underbelly of a city gasping for air. The haunting atmosphere of post-Katrina New Orleans lingers long after the revelation of Vic's fate. (June)