Princess of Wands — John Ringo

SPECIAL: DISTINGUISHED BY SOME UNUSUAL QUALITY . . .

CIRCUMSTANCES: A PIECE OF EVIDENCE THAT INDICATES THE PROBABILITY OR IMPROBABILITY OF AN EVENT...

Barbara Everette, homemaker living in a small town in Mississippi, had the perfect life. She cooked and cleaned and managed all of the chores of the modern suburbanite . . . perfectly. But Barbara simply had to have "one weekend off." Waving goodbye to her perfect family, she set out on the quest for a weekend of peace and maybe some authentic Cajun food.

Detective Sergeant Kelly Lockhart, New Orleans Homicide, had a perfect record on his latest case: not a single suspect. His best source: an old fortune-teller, who was sending him into the bayou, down in the land of authentic Cajun food, with the instruction to "watch for the Princess." Or die.

Barbara and Kelly were heading to a rendezvous that might be fate. There was more cooking in the swamps than jambalaya. Unknown to either, the mystery of the Bayou Ripper had Special Circumstances.