The King of Swords

Absoulutely Brilliant!!!.I've read Mr.Clarinet,the debut novel and was immediately mesmerized.I like the charecters he creates, the settings and the fast pace;reading any thing by this author is sorta like a roller coaster ride or a first date with a guy you know you'll have fun with, you just hope you don't get in a little TOO over your head.I have to say that with The King of Swords you're in over your head!! He takes no prisoners in this one,it's gritty, sexy,dangerous and all the other cool stuff you expect out of a crime suspense thriller.He'll have you "hooked on haitian" in no time!!.Please read Mr.Clarinet first,it helps if you know about Max Mingus and his partner Joe Liston first.I got a real kick out of both books,King of swords is much heavier very dark and scarier.You'll love both,ENJOY!!.

Read it- A very good buddy story-2 Miami Beach cops fall into the world of Haitian medicine woman and hustle.

This is a prequel to MR. CLARINET We find Max Mingus and his partner, Joe Liston, involved in a bizarre muder case involving a sinister fortune teller and her pimp son, a shadowy master criminal, and a corrupt police force. The body count is high and the deaths are gruesome. This is provocative reading and one you'll be skimmin over after you've finished it.

THE KING OF SWORDS, Nick Stone's sophomore effort following the critically acclaimed MR. CLARINET, prompts the question "What the heck is Stone doing?" and deservedly so. It also contains its own answer: "Who knows, but I can't wait to find out!" MR. CLARINET was set in Haiti in the mid-1990s and concerned an ex-cop turned private investigator named Max Mingus, who had done hard time for murder. A prequel to this debut, THE KING OF SWORDS takes place in tumultuous 1981 Miami. Max Mingus is a cop assigned to the Miami police task force, set up to deal with the criminal aftermath of the Muriel boat lift. He and his partner, Joe Liston, are a salt-and-pepper team and best friends, despite being opposites. Liston is fairly straight arrow, while Mingus is not above administering the justice that is occasionally denied by the legal system. They are tasked with a project aimed at the heart of the burgeoning cocaine trade occuring in Miami, even as a series of mass murders begin, seemingly tied to voodoo and the sudden influx of Haitian immigrants in the wake of the Cuban exodus. Their murder investigation leads them slowly but inexorably into the world of a mysterious and crazed fortune teller, and then to her consort, the enigmatic and deadly Solomon Boukman, the most feared criminal in Miami. Physically deformed --- some say deliberately so --- and with the apparent power to alter his appearance at will, Boukman will change Mingus's life in ways he does not foresee. At the heart of it all is a rare tarot deck, one that foretells victory or disaster with but the turn of a single card, the King of Swords. When this card foreshadows disaster for Boukman, it leads to a cataclysmic climax, one with dire consequences for both Boukman and Mingus, as well as for the city of Miami. Nick Stone's methodology reminds me of what Marion Zimmer Bradley did with her Darkover novels. These were written and published significantly out of chronological sequence, yet was done deliberately and effectively. The same applies here: there is a shadow over each and every event in this book, cast by MR. CLARINET. The latter told of events that took place in Mr. Clarinet's past but after THE KING OF SWORDS. Thus we know that Solomon Boukman will not stay in prison; that the life envisioned by Susan, at the conclusion of this most recent novel, will not come to pass; that Mingus will surrender to his dark side, albeit for good reason, but with dire consequences. While the tale told in each of these books is complete in and of itself, there is so much more yet to be written. THE KING OF SWORDS initially appears to be unwieldy, overlong and crammed with unnecessary detail. Don't believe it for a minute. Pay attention to every bit of minutiae contained here; it will become important at some point in the future. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

In 1980 Primate Park security guard Larry Gibson notices a dead ape at 5:21 AM just when his shift is to end; he calls graveyard vet Dr. Jenny Gold who comes to take a look only to scream as the corpse is human. Miami Task Force homicide detectives Max Mingus and Joe Liston take the case since they were driving past Primate Park. To the cynical cops the case is the usual finding a murdered corpse being the norm in town although a tarot card in the mouth of the victim is odd. However, the inquiry takes an eerie spin into Haitian voodoo as practiced by crime lord Solomon Boukman, abusive pimp Carmine Desamours and his mother Eva, more than just a tarot card reader, as she is a firm believer in using paranormal dark entities and deadly drugs to obtain what she wants. The key to this excellent Miami police procedural is the refreshing Haitian voodoo that flows throughout the investigation. Mingus is an intriguing character who is a dedicated tough cop with a few vices; Liston brings out the best and worst in him. As good as he and Joe are, the imaginative story line belongs to the voodoo spin. Harriet Klausner