On December 2, 2007, a quiet home in a quiet neighbourhood in Staten Island became immortalized as 'the Mercereau house' when it became a crime scene. A 38-year-old fire marshal widely recognized as a "rising star" in the New York Fire Department, Doug Mercereau, was curled up in the fetal position, dressed in his pajamas - shot to death. As an arson investigator, Doug carried a department handgun on the job, and his pistol was discovered next to the body. While the nearby service pistol initially suggested the death was a suicide, the autopsy revealed three gunshot wounds in the victim's head.

Six weeks after Hurricane Katrina, an emotionally battered Chanse returns to a New Orleans that is a battered shell of its former vibrant self to try to pull together the shattered pieces of his life. But on arriving, he discovers that his last client before the storm was murdered shortly after she hired him to find her long missing father—and Chanse is drawn into the Verlaine family's deadly web of lies and secrets as he tries to find his client's killer against the backdrop of unbelievable destruction. The third Chanse MacLeod mystery, and winner of the Lambda Literary Award.

The definitive history of abortion in the United States, with a new preface that equips readers for what’s to come. When Abortion Was a Crime is the must-read book on abortion history. Originally published ahead of the thirtieth anniversary of Roe v. Wade, this award-winning study was the first to examine the entire period during which abortion was illegal in the United States, beginning in the mid-nineteenth century and ending with that monumental case in 1973. When Abortion Was a Crime is filled with intimate stories and nuanced analysis, demonstrating how abortion was criminalized and policed—and how millions of women sought abortions regardless of the law. With this edition, Leslie J. Reagan provides a new preface that addresses the dangerous and ongoing threats to abortion access across the country, and the precarity of our current moment. While abortions have typically been portrayed as grim "back alley" operations, this deeply researched history confirms that many abortion providers—including physicians—practiced openly and safely, despite prohibitions by the state and the American Medical Association. Women could find cooperative and reliable practitioners; but prosecution, public humiliation, loss of privacy, and inferior medical care were a constant threat. Reagan's analysis of previously untapped sources, including inquest records and trial transcripts, shows the fragility of patient rights and raises provocative questions about the relationship between medicine and law. With the right to abortion increasingly under attack, this book remains the definitive history of abortion in the United States, offering vital lessons for every American concerned with health care, civil liberties, and personal and sexual freedom.