Follow bodacious New Orleans cop Skip Langdon as she leaves her rookie days behind and evolves into a seasoned homicide detective, ever tough and quick-witted, but something more—sensitive and tender-hearted as well.

As Skip’s career takes off, her cases pull her into increasingly dark, gritty, twisted corners of the Crescent City: she must save New Orleans from a psychopath who’s running for mayor, solve the murder of an honest police chief (a rarity in a city famous for corruption), and unravel the puzzling disappearance of a politician’s husband.

In the last two tales, Skip faces a showdown with her arch-nemesis, an embodiment of evil who would make Hannibal Lecter blush; and she searches frantically for a plucky, resourceful teen on the run from a serial killer, all protective instincts on high alert.

Fans of female-sleuth authors like Sue Grafton, Marcia Muller, and Linda Barnes will love Skip Langdon’s pluck and charm. Those who favor female cop stories, especially those by Nevada Barr, Lisa Gardner, Tana French, Karin Slaughter, and Anne Hillerman will find a new fave here.

“If it’s gritty realism you’re craving, gently simmered with spicy suspense and marvelously memorable characters, Smith is the perfect New Orleans tour guide… –The Clarion-Ledger "Julie Smith writes like jazz should sound—cool, complex, and penetrating right to the heart.” –Val McDermid, best-selling author of the Tony Hill series “Gritty, witty, & mesmerizing! Langdon is a splendid female heroine.” –People Magazine THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS In New Orleans, a psychopath’s running for mayor. Not just the usual harmless megalomaniac—a murderer and a monster. His supporters and a good proportion of would-be voters think he’s just a kindly preacher-man and handily crucify anyone who says otherwise. But Detective Skip Langdon, who met the Rev. Errol Jacomine on a case, knows he’s the personification of evil, and can point to a pile of corpses to prove it. CRESCENT CITY CONNECTION Sure, New Orleans is known for corruption, but suddenly the good guys get a break—an honest police chief. And then someone guns him down. When an organization called The Jury takes out the cop-killer, Detective Skip Langdon’s on the case. And she suspects The Jury’s the brainchild of her old nemesis, self-described preacher Errol Jacomine. 82 DESIRE It seems Councilwoman Bebe Fortier has misplaced her equally prominent husband, United Oil VP Russell Fortier. Across town, part-time detective/poet Talba Wallis has a simple wish—to find out what Russell Fortier's disappearance has to do with her. NOPD Detective Skip Langdon senses something starting to unfold, something a lot bigger than a missing husband. Something rooted in corruption—and motivated by that old demon . . . desire. MEAN WOMAN BLUES The Rev. Errol Jacomine is crazy as a fox that just ate a loon and more dangerous than a cell full of serial killers. He's trying to off Detective Skip Langdon, the New Orleans cop who’s twice smashed his criminal endeavors, yet each time he’s managed to slip away. Now he’s mad. In both senses of the word. And he has the connections to have her killed—or worse, those she loves. MURDER ON MAGAZINE A serial killer is using Airbnb units to stage murders, but a teenage runaway has escaped his grasp and now she's in the wind, believing she's killed him. Meanwhile the real killer stalks the city – and her. As mean as the streets of The City That Care Forgot can be, this child attracts angels (often unlikely ones) who come to her aid. She also finds a friend in NOPD’s newest Sergeant, Skip Langdon, who knows her best hope of finding the killer is to find Cody – plus she recognizes in the girl a younger version of her plucky, resourceful, whip-smart self.