Excerpt from November Road by Lou Berney, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

She kissed him on the cheek. Her expensive scent, over the years, had never changed: fresh jasmine and what smelled like the scorched spices at the bottom of a cast-iron pan. She and Guidry had been lovers once, but so briefly and so long ago that he remembered that period only occasionally, and without much feeling about it one way or another. He doubted that Seraphine remembered it at all.

"You and Carlos never miss a button, do you?" Guidry said.

"So you see now, mon cher? Don't worry."

As Guidry walked back through the Quarter, Seraphine's scent faded and his mind worked. It was true that Seraphine and Carlos never missed a button. So what if Guidry was one of those buttons? What if he was worried about the feds when in fact the real danger—Carlos, Seraphine—stood smiling right behind him?

Get rid of the Eldorado.

And then get rid of the man who got rid of the Eldorado. Get rid of the man who knows about Dallas.

The priest on the steps of St. Louis was still going strong. He was just a kid, barely out of the seminary, pudgy and apple-cheeked. He clasped his hands in front of him, like he was about to blow on the dice in hopes of a lucky roll.

"When you pass through the waters, God will be with us," the priest was assuring his congregation. "When we walk through the fire, we shall not be burned."

That wasn't Guidry's experience. He listened to the priest for another minute and then turned away.

Excerpted from November Road by Lou Berney. Copyright © 2018 by Lou Berney. Excerpted by permission of William Morrow. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.