“...an engaging mix of suspense, clever plotting, and humor.”

— Wes Lukowsky, Booklist, October 15, 2007

A Tony Boudreaux Mystery

Even as a child listening to the hushed, fearful stories told around dying fires of the loup garous that prowled the Louisiana prairies and ghosted through dark swamps, Tony Boudreaux always viewed them with the skepticism of an enlightened individual. Cauchemars turning living creatures, both human and animal, into supernatural beings was the fodder of middle age ignorance.

But when the body of a prominent banker is discovered in the belly of a sixteen-foot alligator and Tony agrees to look into the incident, death latches onto his scent like a cottonmouth water moccasin stalking a wounded swamp rabbit.

Deep in the dark bayou, surrounded by bellowing alligators, Tony learns the truth he hated to admit while trying to unravel the mystery of the banker’s murder.

Kent Conwell grew up in the wide-open Texas Panhandle in the town of Wheeler, population 848. His love for the West came naturally, for his grandfather had run away from his Tennessee home when he was 14, bull-whacking his way to the Panhandle where he met his future wife who had traveled from Illinois to Texas.

After moving to Fort Worth, Kent was more at home at the stockyards than school. Somehow, he managed to earn a B.S. and began teaching. Later, he moved to Port Neches, where he acquired a M.Ed. and Ph.D. A successful educator, his love for writing about the West, a period in history unique to America, has never waned. He has won awards for short stories, screenplays, mysteries, and westerns.

The Swamps of Bayou Teche is Kent’s eighth mystery for AVALON. He has also written thirty westerns for AVALON.

Avalon Mysteries by Kent Conwell:
THE RIDDLE OF MYSTERY INN

The Tony Boudreaux Mystery Series
THE CRYSTAL SKULL MURDERS
DEATH IN THE FRENCH QUARTER
THE SWAMPS OF BAYOU TECHE
EXTRACURRICULAR MURDER
THE YING ON TRIAD
VICKSBURG
DEATH IN THE DISTILLERY
SKELETONS OF THE ATCHAFALAYA
GALVESTON

Avalon Westerns by Kent Conwell:
GRAVE FOR A DEAD GUNFIGHTER
ATASCOCITA GOLD
JUNCTION FLATS DRIFTER
PROMISE TO A DEAD MAN
BOWIE'S SILVER
ANGELINA SHOWDOWN
GUNFIGHT AT FRIO CANYON
AN EYE FOR AN EYE
A HANGING IN HIDETOWN
THE GAMBLING MAN
RED RIVER CROSSING
A WAGON TRAIN FOR BRIDES
FRIDAY'S STATION
SIDETRIP TO SAND SPRINGS
VALLEY OF GOLD
THE ALAMO TRAIL
PAINTED COMANCHE TREE
THE GHOST OF THE BLUE BONE MESA
BUMPO, BILL, AND THE GIRLS
LAUGHING GIRL CREEK
JIM WELLS
GLITTER OF GOLD
TEXAS ORPHAN TRAIN
BLOOD BROTHERS
THE GOLD OF BLACK MOUNTAIN