It is, at its heart, a dark story populated with some unremittingly evil people, some people who practice evil without necessarily realizing it, and some people who do evil but somehow manage to rise above their own actions.

Detective Dave Robicheaux, as he so often does, gets involved in situations he has no business paying attention to. Truth is, he just can't help himself because of his unwillingness to allow injustice to be perpetrated on anyone even if they deserve some kind of punishment. Fortunately he has people around him like his ex-partner on the new Orleans P.D., Clete Purcel, his current partner, Helen Soileau, his helper at the bait shop, Batiste, and his boss, the Iberia County Sheriff, to watch his back.

With corrupt politics, local history and South Louisiana social mores as background, Robicheaux stumbles and grumbles his way through an ingeniously plotted story. The ending is surprising and only slightly unbelievable. It does do the job of tying up all the loose ends, though.

Fortunately for us, life goes on in Cajun Country and Dave Robicheaux has many more injustices to confront giving Burke many more opportunities to entertain us with his excellent stories.