KING OF SWORDS

Miami: Land of oranges, sandy beaches and magnificent sunshine. That’s the traditional view, right? Marauding gibbons, a dead man with a Tarot card shoved down his throat, police corruption, voodoo, cocaine and a slaughtered family – welcome to the 1980’s Miami of Max Mingus. 

Mingus and his partner Joe Liston are members of Miami PD’s Miami Task Force and are sent to investigate the death of a man at the primate zoo. This leads them into confrontation with the Saturday Night Barons’ Club whose leader is Solomon Boukman. As far as the police, or anyone else, is concerned Boukman could be male or female, fat or thin, black or white. No one knows. Which makes him a particularly enigmatic opponent. Any one who has read Mr Clarinet will know that Boukman is Mingus’ main antagonist, so it’s a done deal that Max will survive this first encounter. But that never spoils it for the reader.  

Another storyline that runs alongside the Bouman/Mingus strand is that of Carmine Desamours and his evil bitch of a mother, Eva. Carmine is a Haitian pimp with delusions of grandeur and his kept in his place by Eva who is a voodoo high priestess. Stone explores this relationship and the readers discovers how Carmine became the character he is. He is shown in a more sympathetic light than Eva – she is just pure evil born and bred

As Miami descends into chaos with racial tension and the drug trade increasing, both Mingus and Liston remain resolute in doing the “right thing”. Stone explores these dilemmas and thankfully never goes for the kind of Hollywood stereotypes you’d expect.