I picked this one up as I’m acquainted with Gus Palumbo. He’s a former officer with both the New Orleans Police Department as well as a former agent of the ATF. His previous book, Assassin Hunter (a memoir of a particular case he was investigating and his life at that time) was a great book so I knew this one was a not to be missed book.

Meticulously researched, with the author’s personal conversations with the surviving detective as well as copies of evidence that survives, including photos of the people involved, this book tells the story of post World War II era New Orleans and a particularly heinous crime involving the death of a detective. The book also highlights the differences in criminal procedure and the courtroom that are vastly different from today.

For example, the two robbery division detectives on duty had worked a full night shift and were within an hour of the end of their shift. A report of a person stealing $450.00 and a gun from someone in a hotel came in and the new NOPD policy was that these calls had to be taken by the officers on duty at the time and could not be passed on to the next shift.

This was the Monday morning of Labor Day weekend. One detective only wanted to spend the day with his two young sons fishing. The other wanted to rest and spend time with his pregnant wife.

The trip to interview the person at the hotel who was robbed turned into a trip to Gulfport, Mississippi which was about two hours away with the lack of an interstate and the speed limits of those days.

The next difference from today to back then was the detectives took the victim with them to question and/or arrest the perpetrator.

Two detectives who’d been awake all night, guns, a victim, and a perpetrator all in the same sedan driving back to New Orleans through small towns and some swampy, barely populated areas was a recipe for disaster. And a disaster it turned out to be.

The story has quite a number of twists and turns and sometimes unfathomable actions on the part of the criminals.

A number of people acted heroically in various ways and the death toll could have been much higher had certain individuals not taken on those brave actions.

As a lawyer myself, I was especially intrigued by the quickness of the trial being set and heard. It was also a big shock to read that the court conducted a capital murder case in two days.  Two very long days.  One day, proceedings went on until eight pm. The second day, testimony went on from nine a.m. until after midnight. The jury went out at almost three a.m. and returned a verdict at five thirty a.m.  That is insane.  These days, everyone is so conciliatory to juries, and they’d never be made to stay in a courtroom that long. That would be an appealable issue for sure. A tired jury who wants to go home and go to bed is a sure-fire way to get a new trial these days, but not then.

Of course, in those days, juries were all male so that’s another difference and probably a good thing as one of the defendants had a following of women who seemed fascinated with him.  I have personally never understood that bad boy attraction, but we all know it happens.

Today, I think we’d categorize the one defendant as a sociopath and narcissist. He definitely loved the spotlight on himself as well as had zero remorse for any of his actions.

This book was intriguing and very readable. I felt sad for the surviving detective as he had to navigate the rest of his life with the realization of the mistakes that he and his partner mad, the death of his partner and his own harrowing escape as part of his burdens in life. I was happy to learn he had made a success of two careers after the horror of that time period in his life.

If you like true crime books, this one is excellent.

5 stars.