The first in a thrilling trilogy of novels on New Orleans's underworld, The Tavern explores how a pair of unsuspecting young parents becomes wrapped up in a crime-laden community, simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Looking to build a better life, Italian emigrants Emilio and Jacinta Schlorini settle into historic New Orleans and open La Taverna, a neighborhood pub. The couple is blessed with a child and, for a time, a prosperous business. But before long, Jacinta grows suspicious of her husband, and of the patrons who claim to be their friends.

Enter Frankie Clark, the man behind the local mob, who soon takes matters into his own capable-and deadly-hands.

Author Patricia B. Cheron brings her childhood home to life with her coauthor and son, Patrick Cheron, in this thriller about a young family who becomes trapped by the American dream and struggles to find a way out. Can young love triumph over the local mob's growing strength? It's anybody's guess which characters will still be standing for books two and three, but it's a sure bet readers will savor every last page as they read toward the trilogy's d�nouement.