Knight's Big Easy — Gordon A. Kessler

In Knight's Big Easy: Voodoo, hoodoo and a girl named Poodoo make this year's Mardi Gras the most fun but also the most dangerous party of all for E Z Knight.

Knight goes to New Orleans to find Parole Officer Tamara White Cloud's AWOL USMC son, and finds out L/Cpl Billy White Cloud isn't the only one who's gone missing.

He uncovers the largest human trafficking organization since the US slave emancipation. Led by a Voodoo King named Papa Legba, the slave ring preys not only on young runaways and homeless children, but also kidnaps them from their own homes, and then sells them into prostitution and sweat-shop labor.

Knight works with a retired jazz musician named Black Zack who restores old horns in a shop called Jazzy Brass. They team up with FBI Special Agent Pooh Dooley to find Billy and to stop the slave-traders. However, Knight's old musician sidekick might be more than he appears. Black Zack claims the hay in the back of his truck is for feeding his cousin's goats. But when the pickup the old horn tooter's driving is run off the road and catches fire, smoke from the alfalfa bales in the back gives Knight a high unlike any he's had before.

Time is running out. A cargo ship loaded with over 500 children is away to the deepest waters in the Gulf. With the threat of being exposed, Papa Legba has ordered the ship sunk as soon as it reaches Sigsbee Deep. But Knight's not that worried about dealing with the two-dozen armed men on the slave ship, or the nighttime HALO jump he must make to carry out the rescue -- it's the Voodoo Queen named Marie who won't rest until she's turned E Z Knight into a zombie that's making his skin crawl.
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Knight's Big Easy is the first book of the ”The E Z Knight Reports”; a BookShot length, sexy, humorous and irreverent series as well as a somewhat realistic and poignant look at the darker side of life, crime and the human condition. With a modern-day, ramped up "The Rockford Files"/"Magnum PI" feel, a Jack Bauer-capable hero and a "24" pace, this series consists of page-thrumming, novels.
For more fun, look for Knight's Late Train and Knight's Ransom, the second and third fast-paced novels of the series.
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"The E Z Knight Reports" has a special section on the author's website and blog (gordonkessler.com) with info on each of the books, E Z Knight, Jazzy Brass and the "Knight Girls". You'll also find information about the author and his other novels and works.