A Diamond Before You Die — Chris Wiltz

A simple marital investigation turns New Orleans private eye Neal Rafferty's life into a modern version of the Pandora's Box tale. On a stakeout, he meets the cool and classy P.I. Lee Diamond, who has been tailing Rafferty's client Richard Cotton at the same time Rafferty's been tracking her client, Cotton's wife. Cotton admits he's been gearing up to enter the district attorney's race, and needs Rafferty to look into something besides his wife's extramarital affairs. He wants to get the goods on the present D.A. And there's plenty there to find - he's got his hands into all the local rackets involving drugs, pornography, and all-important water rights. Before the cesspool of local politics begins to sink and the annual Mardi Gras hoopla begins, Rafferty stumbles onto a murder or two. And one of the victims happens to be the D.A.'s bagman. In the gentlemanly city of New Orleans, all things eventually settle into the Mississippi mud. It's a question of what stays down.