Blood on the Bayou by Douglas J. Wood - A review

Blood on the Bayou by Douglas Wood

386 pages - Paperback

Published: April 12, 2022

ISBN: 173488486X

About the book:

The Murder Accountability Project, a nonprofit that analyzes FBI data, estimates that there are as many as 2,000 serial killers responsible for the 185,000 unsolved murders in the United States. According to the FBI there could be as many as fifty active serial killers prowling for victims every day. Most of them will never be caught. - Douglas J. Wood

A serial killer is terrorizing the streets of the French Quarter in New Orleans. The victims are found with their throats slit, odd symbols on their faces, and a wooden cross in their hands. Detective Rebecca Simone and her team are working the case and when DNA from a local man is found on a body, it looks like the mystery is solved. However, someone in Washington D.C. has been quietly observing, and he is not satisfied with the outcome of the case. Unable to remain an outsider, Special Agent Christopher DiMeglio packs his bags and heads down to an unfamiliar city and an unwelcoming New Orleans police department.

Full of dark alleys and urban legends of voodoo, vampires, and hidden secrets, New Orleans is the perfect setting for a killer to get away with murder. Blood on the Bayou is a gripping mystery with a shocking twist that will leave readers guessing until the very end.

Meet the author - Douglas J. Wood:

Douglas J. Wood is Senior Counsel at the law firm of Reed Smith LLP, he has over 45 years of experience practicing entertainment and media law, often imparting knowledge gained from his career in his books. Listed among the leading global specialists in advertising law in Chambers, the Legal 500, The Best Lawyers in America, and Super Lawyers, he is known and respected worldwide and is a member of the Legal 500 Hall of Fame. He received his BA from the University of Rhode Island, his Juris Doctor from the Franklin Pierce Law Center, a Masters of Law in Trade Regulation from New York University School of Law, and an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of New Hampshire. Doug has been adjunct professor of advertising law at the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law and the University College Cork in Ireland.

He is the author of the award-winning Samantha Harrison political trilogy. In 2018, he published his memoir, Asshole Attorney: Memories, Musings, and Missteps in A 40-Year Career (winner of the 2019 Independent Press Award for Best Humor and Wit). In the following year, he added Dark Data: Control, Alt, Delete, a thriller about cyberwar and financial terrorism and winner of the 2020 Independent Press Award for Best Political Thriller. Doug’s newest novel, Dragon on the Far Side of the Moon, a thriller that pits China and the United States in conquest of the Moon, was published this past summer to rave reviews. His other non-fiction titles include 101 Things I Want to Say…the Collection, a book of fatherly advice to his children and the best-selling text Please Be Ad-Vised: A Legal Reference Guide for the Advertising Executive, now in its seventh edition and described by Bob Liodice, CEO of the Association of National Advertisers, as the legal bible for the industry. He is currently working on his next novel, Blood on the Bayou, a criminal thriller set in the sultry streets of New Orleans’ French Quarter. Look for that in 2022.

Doug lives in North Carolina with Carol Ann, his wife of 48 years. They are blessed with three grown children and four adorable grandchildren.

My thoughts:

Another new to me author and another enjoyable book.  I liked how the book/author embraced some of the New Orleans culture and waves it into the story.  The author did a good job of keeping me guessing until the end of the book.  It was an engrossing story that kep me reading late into the night.