“A big crime novel. . . . Stone has a grand story to tell, and he does it with panache. It’s the story of a city and an era (the Reagan reference isn’t gratuitous), at once hilarious and tragic. It’s a story filled with characters that range from honorable to morally ambiguous to frighteningly evil. It’s filled with voodoo rituals, crooked cops, street life, and wrenching descriptions. . . . Brilliant.”  — Booklist (starred review)

Nick Stone’s first novel, Mr. Clarinet, took the crime fiction world by storm—winning enthusiastic raves (“Exquisite” —South Florida Sun-Sentinel; “A spellbinding thriller of the highest order” —Chicago Tribune) as well as a Macavity and a CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award. In The King of Swords, Stone brings back Detective Max Mingus in a chilling and mesmerizing “prequel” that combines murder, police corruption, and voodoo black magic. The King of Swords blazes with Miami heat—and it earns Nick Stone a permanent spot in the winner’s circle alongside the masters James Ellroy, Dennis Lehane, James Lee Burke, Walter Mosley, and Stephen King.