The King of Swords

"A big crime novel. . . . Stone has a grand story to tell, and he does it with panache. It's the story of a city and an era (the Reagan reference isn't gratuitous), at once hilarious and tragic. It's a story filled with characters that range from honorable to morally ambiguous to frighteningly evil. It's filled with voodoo rituals, crooked cops, street life, and wrenching descriptions. . . . Brilliant." -- Booklist (starred review)

Nick Stone's first novel, Mr. Clarinet, took the crime fiction world by storm--winning enthusiastic raves ("Exquisite" --South Florida Sun-Sentinel; "A spellbinding thriller of the highest order" --Chicago Tribune) as well as a Macavity and a CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award. In The King of Swords, Stone brings back Detective Max Mingus in a chilling and mesmerizing "prequel" that combines murder, police corruption, and voodoo black magic. The King of Swords blazes with Miami heat--and it earns Nick Stone a permanent spot in the winner's circle alongside the masters James Ellroy, Dennis Lehane, James Lee Burke, Walter Mosley, and Stephen King.

Nick Stone is the author of Mr. Clarinet, winner of the Crime Writers' Association Ian Fleming Steel Dagger in 2006 and both the International Thriller Writers Award for Best First Novel and the Macavity Award in 2007. He lives in London and Miami with his family.