I literally didn't want to put the book down! Helms has captured the hot, steamy, charming, sleaziness of the city of New Orleans, and especially the historic French Quarter, perfectly in this first book in his Pat Gallegher Mystery series. By night Gallegher is a cornet player in dive bar off Toulouse Street in the Quarter. By day he ekes out a living making collections for a shady sleaze-bag "businessman" named Leduc and doing special "favors" for friends. When long time pal, attorney Cully Tucker, brings the rich Mrs. Clancey Vincouer to the bar, her request that Gallegher find her missing boy toy starts him on the road to a world of hurt. JOKER POKER grabbed me by the throat from the first paragraph and didn't let go until I'd read the last word. If you like your sleuths in the tradition of Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade, and Mike Hammer, you'll love JOKER POKER.