"Good Junk" (Minotaur Books), by Ed Kovacs

New Orleans private detective Cliff St. James finds himself probing the deadly netherworld of foreign weapons dealers in "Good Junk," the second crime thriller by Ed Kovacs set in the city in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Despite his misgivings, St. James joins forces with the New Orleans Police Department after a double homicide on a seedy street leads him to a far-flung conspiracy of arms merchants. Known simply as "The Buyers Club," this crowd is a malignant mix of foreign intelligence agents, nefarious well-heeled locals, and maybe even federal government spooks and insiders.