A Chet and Bernie mystery

After setting things right in a case that took them all the way to the Louisiana bayou, P.I. Bernie LIttle and his faithful canine companion Chet decide to take the long way home and pay a visit to Bernie's girlfriend, Suzie Sanchez, an up-and-coming journalist now living in Washington D.C. Suzie is working on a big story she can't talk about, and when her source, a mysterious Brit with possible intelligence connections, runs into trouble of the worst kind, Bernie suddenly finds himself under arrest. Soon Chet, Bernie and Suzie are pulled into a shadowy international conspiracy.

When Chet and Bernie happen upon a prison work crew that includes Frenchie Boutette, an old criminal pal they sent up the river, getting a new case is the last thing they expect. But Frenchie, who comes from an old Louisiana family full of black sheep, needs help finding his one law-abiding relative, his brother Ralph, a reclusive inventor who has gone missing with his houseboat. At first it seems as if Ralph's disappearance is connected to a dispute over a load of stolen shrimp. But the investigation heads in a dangerous new direction involving the oil business and an impending environmental catastrophe.

When his neighbor gets in trouble for cactus smuggling, Bernie Little, along with his dog, investigates and discovers dangerous goings-on in the desert that seem to be linked to a strange festival, a cult, and a long-ago kidnapping.