Mary Olson-Kromolowski

A police chief, about to retire, pledges to help a woman find her daughter's killer.

Lt. Dave Robicheaux, a detective in New Iberia, Louisiana, is trying to link the murder of a local hooker to New Orleans mobster Julie 'Baby Feet' Balboni, who is co-producer of a Civil War film. When the star of the film, Elrod Sykes, reports finding another corpse in the Atchafalaya Swamp near the movie set, Robicheaux starts another investigation, believing the corpse to be the remains of a black man whose murder he witnessed 35 years earlier.

Through the streets of World War I Paris, Italian bohemian artist Modigliani attempts to outmaneuver bombs, policemen, girlfriends, and critics in a increasingly desperate search of a home for his art.