There's a Red Dragon loose at Mardi Gras. From the seamy byways of the French Quarter to the palatial landscapes of the Garden District, New Orleans has become the playground for a fiercely calculating serial murderer. The first victim, blue-tongued and pop-eyed from three days in the river, looked like any other mob hit except that this corpse was the son-in-law of a Cosa Nostra boss. To hit someone that high up usually signaled a vendetta and the beginning of a war. But when a common prostitute and an unremarkable exchange student are also murdered execution style, it's clear that this isn't a case of a mob housecleaning. An insane killer is feeding off New Orleans. As the bodies begin to pile up, they turn to the man known as the Grim Reaper, Police Detective Dino LaStanza. He nailed The Slasher last year; he's the only one who can stem the tide of death sweeping through the city. Haunted by the murder of his brother, LaStanza's manhunt leads him from the leather lined offices of the Mafia to the desperate slums of The Quarter. Every clue brings LaStanza one step closer to the killer, and the killer that much closer to LaStanza and those he loves the most.
