Set in south Louisiana in the aftermath of the BP oil spill, this darkly hilarious debut novel teems with gritty characters, buried treasure, drugs and murder. Cooper arrived in Louisiana in 2010 immediately after the spill and taught at a small state school out in the bayou where most of his students were either the sons or daughters of shrimpers or from families who worked for Big Oil. He saw how the disaster shocked and stunned this community. He also knew he wanted to set The Marauders (Crown) in Barataria Bay, where the famous French pirate Jean Lafitte marauded in the early nineteenth century and whose treasure is, to this day, still supposedly buried.

Bill Loehfelm is a rising star in crime fiction. His newest novel is Doing the Devil’s Work (Sara Crichton) the third in a series featuring his protagonist, New Orleans cop, Maureen Coughlin. Ace Atkins says: “Bill Loehfelm owns post-Katrina New Orleans. This is an honest, true look at the New Orleans of today. You can’t do any better than riding shotgun with Maureen Coughlin. She’s hip, contemporary, and the perfect guide to one of America’s most broken cities.” Previous books in the series include The Devil in Her Way, and The Devil She Knows. Loehfelm lives in New Orleans with his wife, the writer AC Lambeth, and plays drums in the Ibervillains, a rock-and-soul cover band.

Eric Deaton moved from North Carolina to Mississippi straight out of high school in the late 1990s. He immersed himself in the world of hill country blues by playing at the world-renowned Junior Kimbrough’s juke joint and jamming with blues masters such as the late Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside (and various members of their extended families). He has played, lived and toured with other Mississippi blues artists such as T-Model Ford, Paul ‘Wine’ Jones, and Big Bad Smitty. His CDs include, Gonna Be Trouble Here, and Smile At Trouble.

From Lafayette, Louisiana, Marcella Rene Simien grew up onstage with her father, two- time Grammy award-winner Terrance Simien. In 2009 she moved to Memphis to attend the Memphis College of Art. In no time she was back onstage with her accordion, fronting her own band, Marcella and Her Lovers, delighting audiences with a sound born from fusing elements of her Creole heritage with Memphis soul. Their latest release is the five-song EP, The Bronze Age produced by Scott Bomar of the Bo-Keys.