Blood on the Bayou

An attention-grabbing thriller, Donaldson's follow-up to Cajun Nights reunites New Orleans's Chief Medical Examiner Andy Broussard and his assistant, psychologist Kit Franklyn, in an investigation of violent serial murders in Louisiana's famous French Quarter. Examinations of the victims, graphically described by forensic pathologist Donaldson, reveal that each one's throat was ripped open with two tools: a garden fork and something not man-made. While the author's eye for detail supports his atmospheric evocation of the deep South and descriptions of the bizarre werewolf folklore, his characterization is uneven. Broussard is a sluggish cartoon presence next to the lively, inquisitive Franklyn, who is as intrigued by eccentric men as she is by unsolved murders. Drawn into the heart of bayou country, Kit is attracted to a peculiar alligator farmer, discovers another family's secrets and ends up in a showdown with the werewolf that, in keeping with most of the book, is like a B-movie: utterly predictable and equally entertaining. (Mar.)