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Michael Rigg

Home Featured Authors & Panelists Featured Participant Lineup 2026 Michael Rigg

Michael Rigg, a lawyer for over four decades, writes mysteries and thrillers set in Virginia Beach—his home—and New Orleans, a favorite “research” spot where he belongs to three Mardi Gras Krewes. He is a retired Navy Judge Advocate and former civilian attorney for the Department of the Navy Office of the General Counsel. Rigg is a member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime, including its Southeastern Virginia chapter, Mystery by the Sea.

 

Schedule

Will be posted when available.

Shadows of Frenchmen: A Jonathan Gray, M.D. Mystery

On a frosty Sunday morning in February, Dr. Jonathan Gray, Coroner of Orleans Parish, faces a gruesome sight. A dead man splayed against the circular steel and cut-glass blocks of the city’s AIDS memorial in Washington Square Park has strange symbols carved into his forehead and chest. A coded note—a cipher—has been placed under one hand. The body mutilation and note are hallmarks of a serial killer dubbed by the news media as the “Mardi Gras Sweeper,” because he strikes during Carnival season and leaves coded manifestos taunting police and giving hints about his next victim.

Hoping to avoid a panic during the city’s most profitable season, Mayor Max Jamerson asks Gray to investigate the murder “on the sly,” without formal assistance from the New Orleans Police Department. Time is of the essence as Gray races to figure out the cipher and track down the Sweeper in order to prevent additional killings—and save Mardi Gras.