Fat Tuesday

New Orleans police lieutenant Burke Basile has nothing left to lose. He mistakenly shot his best friend and partner in the midst of a drug raid; now he has found his wife in the shower with another man. Hungry for justice, Basile resigns his job in order to go after the man he blames for everything: criminal defense attorney Pinkie Duvall, who is himself a master criminal. Basile's plan for exposing the slimy attorney involves masquerading as a priest in order to kidnap Pinkie's unhappy trophy wife, Remy. His ragtag squad of helpers includes a churchgoing madam, a weasly sex offender with training both as an actor and a priest and a loyal swamp rat named Dredd. In Pinkie's corner loom all of the muscle that deep pockets and deep affiliations with organized crime can buy. Still up for grabs is a GQ-style cop whose huge debt to the mob, and whose wife's beautiful face, hang in the balance, and a police captain whose ambitions for his own career just might be more important than human lives. A wild card comes into play when Basile unexpectedly falls for his captive, as Brown expertly pushes her story toward an explosive Mardi Gras conclusion. Brown's trademark mix of action and romance (Exclusive, etc.) is on display in this suspenseful, if rarely subtle, tale of revenge and corruption. 500,000 first printing; major ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selections. (June)