Voices of the Elysian Fields

***Anthony and Agatha Award-nominee for Best First Novel***

Two days before Christmas, Jonathan Gray, M. D., Chief Deputy Coroner for Orleans Parish, receives shocking news. Robby O'Malley-Jonathan's mentor for nearly forty years-has died under mysterious circumstances. Within hours after Robby's death, Gray takes the oath of office as Coroner and participates in autopsies of an elderly couple murdered in their Garden District home. After mass on Christmas morning, Archbishop Phillip Fontenot asks Gray to investigate the sexual assault of one of his parishioners, as well as the disappearance of her sister-without involving the police. As Jonathan winds his way through what appear to be separate incidents, he uncovers connections and secrets that members of the city's power elite would just as soon remain hidden.

Michael Rigg, an attorney for more than four decades, writes mysteries and thrillers set in two very different locations: Virginia Beach (where he lives) and New Orleans (which he visits as often as possible "for research," including participation in three Mardi Gras Krewes). He is a retired Navy Judge Advocate and a retired civilian government attorney, formerly working for the Department of the Navy Office of the General Counsel. He is a member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and both the Sisters in Crime national organization and its Southeastern Virginia Chapter-Mystery by the Sea.