As if Katrina wasn't enough, the multitude of industrial poisons that have seeped into the water table has finally pushed the swampy southern ecosystem over the edge. The fairies preciously glimpsed out of the corner of your eyes have mutated beyond their shy ancestors and are ravenous for the blood of humans. A single bite from a fairy causes anything from death within seconds to a slow lingering descent into madness. For most humans, that is. The few who are immune from fairies are in high demand in the iron- ringed cities below the freezing zone. The north is safe enough, but anywhere hot enough for the fairies to survive has adapted or been abandoned. Those rich enough to move have left, those too poor or too stubborn are doing the best they can with a shattered infrastructure to see that life goes on.

Annabelle Lee is one of the lucky ones whose immunity has her taking on such glamorous tasks as sampling swamp water and fairy poo to keep the research facilities working on the problem. She is also on call to local law enforcement to do the preliminary tests and samples whenever a body is found outside the iron fence guarding Donaldsonville, Louisiana from the fairies. It's not a part of her job she ever looks forward to but this time is harder than the rest. No one can work on a murdered little girl and not have it haunt them. Still, being able to go outside the fence means she is able to watch the back of Cane Cooper, her lover, a D'Ville city cop and a decent man who loves her more than he should.

Horrible as little Grace's death is, it is connected to a bigger issue that has the FBI in town. One of the agents happens to be a man from her past. A man she has tried to forget and who obviously has moved on with his life since she broke his heart.

DEAD ON THE DELTA is a fascinating start to a new urban fantasy series. The seedy setting and hard-drinking heroine are written with skill and humor and enough quirks to enmesh you in the story within a few moments time. Add the twisted mystery and drug tie in (fairy poop is the new cocaine) and you are drawn further into a world just the other side of reality. Although the core questions of book one are fully answered, the final pages consist of one of the most intriguing endings I've encountered, setting readers up for a hell of a second book. Stacey Jay is has been writing full time since 2005 and has a number of young adult novels under her belt. DEAD ON THE DELTA is her adult urban fantasy debut.