Best-Selling Author Serves Up Creole And Crime With
Bad
Karma In the Big Easy!
Astor
+ Blue Editions is proud to present a
heart-pounding new thriller by D.J. Donaldson, Bad Karma in The Big Easy!
Best-selling mystery author D.J.
Donaldson (New Orleans Requiem, Louisiana Fever) invites readers back to
the Bayou with his latest New Orleans adventure Bad Karma in the Big Easy. Plump and proud medical examiner Andy
Broussard reunites with gorgeous psychologist Kit Franklyn as they face off
with their most gruesome foe yet.
A killer lurks in The Big Easy, his
victims found among the many bodies left in the wake of the devastating
Hurricane Katrina. But with the city’s records destroyed, and the police force
in complete disarray, Broussard must take matters into his own hands. Soon, he
and his courageous sidekick, Kit, find themselves on a dangerous and
labyrinthine journey through the storm-ravaged
underbelly of the ever-mysterious and intensely seductive city of New Orleans;
leading them to a predatory evil the likes of which they’ve never encountered.
Written in his uniquely brusque
style, Donaldson’s Bad Karma combines
hard-hitting, action-packed prose with a folksy, sweetly Southern charm. Add Donaldson’s brilliant first-hand knowledge of
forensics and the sultry flavor of New Orleans, and the result is a first class
forensic procedural within an irresistibly delectable mystery that will leave
fans hungry for more.
Available at all major book retailers
(ISBN: paperback 979-1-938231-32-2, ePUB 978-1-938231-30-8, ePDF 978-1-938231-31-5; Mystery, Thriller; paperback
$12.99, ebook $5.99).
PRAISE FOR D.J. DONALDSON
“D.J.
Donaldson is superb at spinning medical fact into gripping suspense. With his in-depth knowledge of science and
medicine, he is one of very few authors who can write with convincing
authority.”
– Tess
Gerritsen, NY Times best-selling
author of the Rizzoli & Isles novels
"With
each book, Donaldson peels away a few more layers of these characters and we
find ourselves loving the involvement."
– THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL (MEMPHIS)
“Donaldson
has established himself as a master of the Gothic mystery.”
– BOOKLIST
Excerpt from Bad Karma in The Big Easy
They
reached the store’s kicked-in front door a few seconds later. Flashlight on,
Broussard went in first, Kit following closely.
Inside the store, they played their
flashlight beams around the dank interior. At first they saw nothing but
mud-caked floorboards and walls pockmarked with starbursts of mold, then Kit’s
light picked up a chain hanging from the ceiling. Following it up, she saw it
was attached to a large screw eye. Walking her beam back down the rope, she
discovered a large metal hook on the other end. By now, Broussard was looking
at it, too.
“What do you suppose that was used for?”
Kit said.
“Hangin’ somethin’.”
“What?”
But Broussard had already turned away to
see what else might be found. His light located some twisted chrome rods and a
pair of loose wheels that together, were probably once a rolling wardrobe
trolley. It didn’t take much detective work to arrive at that conclusion
because the chrome wreckage was lying on a clot of muddy clothing. With Kit
supplementing his light with hers, Broussard walked over to the clothes, knelt,
and began pulling at the matted, muddy mess to see what kind of clothes they
were.
The first piece to come free was
apparently a dress. He reached down and worked another edge free.
A much brighter light than either of the
ones they carried suddenly blasted them from the doorway. They both turned to
see who was there.
“Look,” a mocking voice said. “Looters. I
don’t think there’s a lower form of humanity than people who would take
advantage of a catastrophe for personal gain. We should instruct them and set
them on a better path.”
“The woman’s a major babe,” a second
voice said.
With the light shining in her eyes, it
was hard to see through it, but Kit thought there were only two of them.
Were they carrying guns? She couldn’t
tell. If she reached for hers and pointed it at them, the natural response
would be for them to start shooting. If she was going to produce the Ladysmith,
better to just start blasting away with it. But what if they weren’t armed? And
maybe they’re just kids. Could she live with killing an unarmed kid? Damn it.
The two moved inside. The one with the
light shifted it onto Broussard. “What are you dressed up for old man,
Halloween?” the second voice said. “Couldn’t you afford a real tie?”
“I’m the medical examiner,” Broussard
said. “I do a lot of my work bendin’ over examinin’ the dead. I found early in
my career that a long tie gets in the way. Kind of like what you’re doin’ right
now.”
With the light out of her face, Kit
played her own light over the two so she could see their hands.
“Ohhh, get him,” the second thug said.
“He ain’t scared. But you oughtta be old man.”
The thug slipped his hand into his pocket
and brought out an object. There was a snicking sound and Kit’s light caught
the glint of a knife blade. She saw no guns.
Before she could reach for the Ladysmith,
she was grabbed in a bear hug from behind, pinning her arms. Her flashlight
clattered to the floor. Instinctively, she threw her head back, hoping to drive
her skull into her captor’s face, but he must have been expecting that because
he moved his head to the side.
“Your hair smells great,” he said
breathing into her ear. “I’ll bet your pussy smells even better.”
His breath curled around to the front of
her face and went into her nose. Though the odor in the store was bad, his
breath was worse. One of his hands slid down between her legs and his fingers
began probing.
She stamped on his right foot as hard as
she could. But her soft deck shoes didn’t have any effect. She drove her left
foot back into his kneecap. That didn’t accomplish anything either. Running out
of options, she leaned into him and drove herself backward. He gave ground and
they began to move, slowly at first, then faster as she continued to dig in. They
hit the back wall a moment later with a thud. She heard the air rush out of
him, but he didn’t loosen his hold.
The guy with the knife advanced on
Broussard.
“He likes unusual ties,” the guy with the
light said. “Cut his throat and pull his tongue through the opening. See how
that suits him.”
Kit watched with horror. They were both
in trouble, but it was Broussard she was worried about. They were going to kill
him and she couldn’t do anything about it. If she could just get free for a
second... She struggled in the grip of the geek holding her, but he was too
strong.
Broussard shoved his flashlight into his
back pocket. Fists raised, he edged forward in a crouch to meet the guy with
the knife. The thug moved in closer, his hands making circling motions, trying
to confuse Broussard about the direction the attack would come. He lunged.
With surprising quickness, Broussard
knocked the knife hand to the side with his left hand. He took a step forward
and brought his right fist around in a
looping motion that caught the thug hard on the side of the head. Stunned, the
thug staggered sideways, turned, and fell on his ass. But he didn’t drop the
knife.
“I could be wrong, but I think you missed
him, Chato,” the guy with the light said. “Try again.”
Chato got awkwardly to his feet. Grinding
his teeth and growling, he charged again. This time he swung the knife from
Broussard’s left to his right in a huge underhand slicing motion. Broussard
leaned back so the knife barely missed his face. He grabbed the thug’s arm and
used the momentum of the guy’s charge to spin him around. Broussard then sent
him sprawling onto the floor with a kick in the glutes.
The guy with the light played the beam
over his embarrassed lackey, then turned it back onto Broussard. “You’re not an
easy mark, I’ll say that for you, old man. And I’ve enjoyed your performance.
But now it’s time you were dead…”
(Portly & Proud) Andy
Broussard Mysteries
Get your copies for $0.99!
- Bad Karma in the Big Easy: http://amzn.to/1hSx6qO
- Louisiana Fever: http://amzn.to/1ev0Yi7
- Sleeping With the Crawfish: http://amzn.to/1jIBGvX
- New Orleans Requiem: http://amzn.to/1p7GQat
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Don is a
retired professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology. His entire academic career was spent at the
University of Tennessee Health Science Center, where he published dozens of
papers on wound healing and taught microscopic anatomy to over 5,000 medical
and dental students. He is also the
author of seven published forensic mysteries and five medical thrillers. He
lives in Memphis, Tennessee with his wife and two West Highland Terriers. In the spring of most years he simply cannot
stop buying new flowers and other plants for the couple’s backyard garden.
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