<p><b>'Evil, bigotry and doing the right thing. All are done as expertly as ever by a master writer' DAILY TELEGRAPH</b><br><br>Lucas Smothers, nineteen and from the wrong end of town, has been arrested for the rape and murder of a local girl. His lawyer Billy Bob Holland is convinced of Lucas's innocence but proving it means unearthing the truth from a seething mass of deceit and corruption. A corruption endemic in the way it can be only in a gossipy small town where everybody knows everybody else's business. <br><br>Billy Bob's relationship with Lucas's family is not an easy one - years back he was a close friend of Mrs Smothers, too close according to her husband Vernon. And when Lucas overhears gruesome tales of serial murder from a neighbouring cell in the local lock-up, the waters are muddied even further and Lucas himself looks like a candidate for an untimely death.<br><br><b>Praise for one of the great American crime writers, James Lee Burke:</b><br><br>'James Lee Burke is the heavyweight champ, a great American novelist whose work, taken individually or as a whole, is unsurpassed.' Michael Connelly<br><br>'A gorgeous prose stylist.' Stephen King<br><br>'Richly deserves to be described now as one of the finest crime writers America has ever produced.' <i>Daily Mail</i><br><br><b>Fans of Dennis Lehane, Michael Connelly and Don Winslow will love James Lee Burke: </b><br><br><b>Billy Bob Holland Series</b><br><br>1. <i>Cimarron Rose</i> <br>2. <i>Heartwood </i><br>3. <i>Bitterroot </i><br>4. <i>In The Moon of Red Ponies</i> <br><br><b>Dave Robicheaux Series</b><br><br>1. <i>The Neon Rain</i> <br>2. <i>Heaven's Prisoners</i> <br>3. <i>Black Cherry Blues</i> <br>4. <i>A Morning for Flamingos</i> <br>5. <i>A Stained White Radiance</i> <br>6. <i>In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead</i> <br>7. <i>Dixie City Jam</i> <br>8. <i>Burning Angel</i> <br>9. <i>Cadillac Jukebox</i> <br>10. <i>Sunset Limited</i> <br>11. <i>Purple Cane Road</i> <br>12. <i>Jolie Blon's Bounce</i> <br>13. <i>Last Car to Elysian Fields</i> <br>14. <i>Crusader's Cross</i> <br>15. <i>Pegasus Descending</i> <br>16. <i>The Tin Roof Blowdown</i> <br>17. <i>Swan Peak</i> <br>18. <i>The Glass Rainbow</i> <br>19. <i>Creole Belle</i> <br>20. <i>Light of the World</i> <br>21. <i>Robicheaux</i> <br><br><b>Hackberry Holland Series</b><br><br>1. <i>Lay Down My Sword and Shield</i> <br>2. <i>Rain Gods</i> <br>3. <i>Feast Day of Fools</i> <br>4. <i>House of the Rising Sun</i><br><br><br>* Each James Lee Burke novel can be read as a standalone or in series order *</p>