"Murder and Mardi Gras together! Ain't we got fun?"

For years New Orleans has been enthralled by the secret society dedicated to Dis, Greek god of Inferno, whose membership of fifty is closely guarded from the press, and whose rites burlesque the proud tradition of the city's Mardi Gras festival. Lovely Cynthia Fontenay gives Dis a ball each year, and no member of the order has ever been seen without satanic mask and sinister robes of black and scarlet-this is well known, but despite many efforts, the secret of its roster has never been penetrated.

When murder strikes with vicious efficiency in this charmed circle, its visit casts a shadow over the city. Captain Murphy, of the Homicide Squad, and Wade, New Orleans journalist, confront a case of fifty suspects, smouldering motives which overnight become front page news, and incredible circumstances which make for the most famous of many unusual crimes on the Police Calendar.

The Mardi Gras Murders was first published in 1932. This new edition includes an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.