New Orleans, 1919. Set in the turbulent year following the end of the Great War, this New Orleans-based mystery revolves around the real and terrifying Axeman murders. Cornet-playing, jazz-loving Detective Jimmy O'Connor believes a series of murders, widely thought to have been committed by the Axeman, are in fact perpetrated by an axe-wielding copycat killer. His investigation leads him to Lillette Montague, who is as full of beauty and intrigue as the Crescent City. Through her, he begins to question the validity of the laws he has sworn to uphold.