Astor Blue Editions imprint: 22 books

Chip Hale, a former Navy Sea Bee and Vietnam Veteran, is a blue-collar worker who is as hard as a titanium pop-rivet, except where it comes to raising his two wise-cracking, techno-savvy, teenage granddaughters. He is also fond of using metaphors and similes that relate to the construction industry,...

Maxine Rosen, a demure, clumsy, Chicago caterer gets more than she bargains for when she discovers her father’s coded research document linked to health pills unearthed from the ancient Indus Valley civilization. The pills, she learns, carry frightening secrets about the true nature of her father’s...

In this New Orleans–set mystery, the author of Cajun Nights “combines an insider’s knowledge with a real flair for making the reader’s skin crawl” (Booklist). There’s a killer stalking the New Orleans French Quarter. Each victim is found in the same gruesome condition: the body...

A “suspenseful . . . welcome debut” mystery set in New Orleans (The Washington Post Book World). When a disturbing series of murder-suicides terrorizes the Big Easy, young NOPD criminal psychologist Kit Franklyn is eager to take the case and prove her mettle. She discovers some bizarre...

The acclaimed author of The Miracle “brings to life the bliss and treachery of the Italian Renaissance” in this novel of beauty and betrayal (David Henry Hwang). In fifteenth-century Florence, young and beautiful Agnolo does whatever he must to survive. When he isn’t living with a soldier,...

Broussard and Franklyn pursue justice through the steamy streets of New Orleans in this thriller from “a master of the gothic mystery” (Booklist). Chief medical examiner Andy Broussard is at a family picnic in Bayou Sauvage when his uncle Joe is killed in a murder-suicide. The deceased...

A medical examiner and a psychologist once again make a “formidable team” in this mystery set in colorful New Orleans (The Washington Times). Criminal psychologist Kit Franklyn feels like she’s been spinning her wheels in both life and career. She gets a lift from her malaise when she...

Two New Orleans investigators are up against an inhuman killer in this “sleek, fast-moving” mystery (Kirkus Reviews). When criminal psychologist Kit Franklyn goes to meet an anonymous admirer, the date ends before it begins—as the man drops dead at her feet. Now, yet again, her evening’s...

A convict’s fingerprints point to a deadly conspiracy at Angola State Prison in this “action-packed, cleverly plotted topnotch thriller” (Booklist). After surviving the clutches of a deranged killer, criminal psychologist Kit Franklyn decides to leave police work for a safe, quiet job...

A serial killer is at large in this “ingenious” New Orleans–set mystery “for those who like their lab talk down and dirty” (Kirkus Reviews). Portly New Orleans chief medical examiner Andy Broussard and sprightly criminal psychologist Kit Franklyn have dealt with strange murders before—but...

In “one of the great coming-of-age novels of the twentieth century,” an estranged father and son struggle to get by in 1950s Michigan (New York Times–bestselling author Jennifer Haigh).   It’s 1959 in Flint, Michigan, and sixteen-year-old Alex Housman has just stolen his fourteenth car. Frankly,...

Broussard and Franklyn uncover murder in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in this Southern thriller from the “master of the Gothic mystery” (Booklist). Among the dead collected in the catastrophic wake of Hurricane Katrina are three nude female bodies, all caught in the same brush tangle—none...

In early 1960s Detroit, a teenage basketball star faces disillusionment in his quest for glory, in this “knockout” novel by the author of The Car Thief (The Boston Globe).   Fifteen-year-old Dale Wheeler, the son of an unemployed, alcoholic autoworker, hopes to lead his team to the City League...

A young man leaves South Boston for the first Gulf War, in a novel that is “a very great achievement” (The Boston Globe).   Growing up in Southie, Jimmy Murphy boxes after school, developing his toughness as he looks forward to enlisting in the army like his father. He navigates the racial politics...