The Diamonds of Ghost Bayou: A Tony Boudreaux Mystery

Conwell’s slight 12th Tony Boudreaux mystery (after 2009’s An Unmarked Grave) takes the Austin, Tex., PI to Priouxville, La., where his ex-wife, Diane, and her husband, Jack Edney, an old friend of Tony’s, have recently bought a vacation home with a storied past on Bayou Fantôme. Unfortunately, one night when Jack goes to investigate what he thinks are animal noises on the porch, he gets beat up by two men asking about diamonds. A voluble old-timer fills in Tony on an $8 million diamond heist 13 years earlier as well as a recent murder attributed to the mythical “loup-garou,” or werewolf. Colorful locals—a shrimper, a casino owner, a huge Cajun called T-Ball—lend assistance. In seeking the truth, Tony must handle snakes, both reptile and human. Conwell drops so many clues to the location of the missing gems the Hardy boys could find them. (Feb.)