A dark shadow of fear has fallen over sunny Newpointe, Louisiana. First one, then another of the town firemen's wives has been murdered, a third has barely escaped an attempt on her life, and what at first seemed incredible appears to be only too true: A serial killer is stalking this sleepy little community near the Mississippi border. For fireman Mark Branning, the murders are a dash of icy water, waking him up to how much he really cares about...

"Harry Black, a conscientious objector, artist, and firefighter battling the blazes of German bombing in London in 1944, wakes in the hospital to news that his soldier brother, Ellis, has been killed. In the delirium of his wounded state, Harry's mind begins to blur the distinctions between the reality of war-torn London, the fiction of his unpublished sci-fi novel, and the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Driven by visions of Ellis still alive and a...