Passion Street — David Burton

The Family ties that bind can be deadly. An international porn star murdered. A PI who needs to discover who put a .38 slug in her beautiful head. Hard-boiled PI Jim Trust works and lives in Passion Street, a glitzy, seamy neighborhood littered with xxx movie theaters, strip joints, seedy hotels, jazz clubs and the best restaurants in town. With the help, or hindrance, of its denizens �" Frog-like Slick Deveraux, Alex, the diminutive lesbian bouncer, Detective Helen Copper, and a man from his past he can't quite remember �" Trust takes care of the “Street.” After two weeks recuperating from two bullet wounds, Trust's friend asks him to look into the murder of his girlfriend, international porn star, Diane Lavish. Trust finds that in his absence violent drug dealers have infiltrated his turf. Of course, the people of the street blame him. Trust needs to regain their confidence; his place in Passion Street is all he has. Angel Dupierre, one of Trust's main suspects and responsible for the insidious push of drugs into his neighborhood, warns him to drop the case. He doesn't, and is framed for killing a witness. On the run, he finds shelter with stripper, Cleo Weng. They fall for each other, but Cleo isn't sure she can handle, or survive, the violence that follows him. While holed up with Cleo, he learns that the body of the dead witness has been claimed by a greedy cult called the Diviners of God. While concentrating his investigation on the Diviners, Trust discovers how deadly family ties that bind can be.