Prologue: Barbados, 1934. Joseph and sister Bernice find the rotting corpse of a policeman by the shore.
Bristol, 1967. Joseph has been in the UK for 4 years. He's an ex-cop who does some freelance investigation. He lives on a barge. He receives a telegram from cousin Vic (who disappeared a year having saved Joseph's life). Bernice has died. Joseph's wife Ellie and young daughter Emilia are already dead.
Viv has got him a first class return plane ticket to New York for the next day, and $1500. In London Joseph (JT) receives racist abuse. The preflight and flight description is laboured - it's the first time he's flown and he's the only black on the plane but all the same. Evangeline (who works with Viv) meets him at the airport with her minders. They don't tell him anything at first. They go to Haarlem and the Projects. They some him a big stash of cannabis that Viv sent them. He's told he's going to be Viv's new courier. Profits go to the Black Panthers. But the stash disappears. Joseph is suspected. There are gangland murders. He hears that Monroe caused his family's death - Joseph had been investigating him for 2 years. Monroe's friends with Evangeline. They want to expand in cocaine and guns.
Joseph, Evangeline and others take a train towards New Orleans. Some of their team are murdered. Joseph and Evangeline sleep together.
Earlier he'd been given a little alabaster coffin. There was a note from Bernice inside, saying there were others. In New Orleans a strange old woman alludes to them. He's led to a funeral director. He's been expected. The director has 3 sacks of cannabis to replace the stolen delivery.
He compares racism in New Orleans and in Barbados. At a cafe someone (Gatehouse) talks to him, saying that Evangeline is being held captive by his men. He wants to know where Vic is. His client is being blackmailed by Vic. He says that Vic and Monroe ("a nasty albino whose shit don't flush") are working together, and that they were responsible for the death of Joseph's family. He tells Joseph where to find Evangeline. Joseph finds her dead body. He's kidnapped, taken 300 miles North. He meets someone who knew his father. Vic turns up. He's been tracking Joseph. They interrogate someone who works for Gatehouse then throws him to the alligators.
Monroe entertained clients at sex parties, taking incriminating photos. Bernice (his lover!) stole them. Gatehouse killed her. They drive to an airstrip, use a Dakota with 3 coffins inside, and land at a US military base in Barbados where Bernice's body is being kept. This route is how Vic transports his goods. Some US military people were at the parties and would like to get rid of Monroe. Vic says that Monroe's father is Bernice's father.
He meet Mamma Esme who he's no seen for decades. She's a psychic of sorts. Bernice gave her the photos. Vic had told Morton that Joseph had the photos and was out to get him. Vic has a deal with Morton to deliver Joseph tied up in a coffin. Vic gets an escape-artist to train them to do special knots. Vic meets Morton. Morton says that his great-grandfather's daughter was seduced by Joseph's great-grandfather. Vic's gang attack. Joseph and Moton find themselves alone. Joseph kills Morton.
Later, Mamma Esme introduces Joseph to Bernice's daughter.
It's the 3rd book in the series, which may explain why some the plotting/backstory sounds strained. It's all Joseph's PoV. Some of the sections (e.g. when getting the plane from London) seem slow - I wonder if they're needed at all. Perhaps were I reading the book instead of listening to it, my sense of pacing would be different. There are purple patches of description but also some lapses. "I smile to myself" occurs twice in a minute and several other times. "I smiled to myself then at Mamma Esme" sounds awkward. There's "I nodded my head to myself", "nodded her head to herself", "nod his head anxiously up and down" - surely too many words. There's "Vic sniggered to himself". When 3 blacks are in a car at night they're "like a moth to a flame" for the police, which is rather muddled phrasing.
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