The tropical island-nation of Misericordia is a social and political powder keg, a volcano of pent-up human suffering and rage on the verge of eruption. Founded in the 17th century as a refuge for runaway slaves, "the land of mercy" has since been tyrannized by one vicious, self-serving political despot after another.

A recent popular uprising, led by liberation theologian and local folk hero, Father Pierre-Pierre Bernard, provided the island’s poor mulatto masses with a rare moment of freedom and self-rule. But Father Bernard, for all his passion as a preacher and social insurrectionist, proved singularly ill-equipped to lead the country as president. Less skilled in making decisions than in weighing—and continually re-weighing—the merits of each position, "the Hamlet of the Caribbean" cowered in the face of the harsh, day-to-day realities of political life on the island and was soon deposed to exile in the U.S. by a right-wing military coup.

Enter Nina Halligan, the headstrong, street-savvy but sophisticated protagonist of Norman Kelley's new political thriller, The Big Mango, the second installment in a series of novels about Ms. Halligan’s life and adventures. A former Brooklyn assistant district attorney, Nina divides her time between her responsibilities as a left-wing political science instructor in a Brooklyn community college and her occasional work as a private investigator. An activist in the African-American community in New York, the woman has a nose for scandal and corruption, as well as a troubled history of dragging the people she loves into danger. (The first installment in the Nina Halligan series, Black Heat, was published to great critical acclaim by Cool Grove Press in 1997, and will be reissued by HarperCollins in 2001 on their new imprint, Amistad.)

As the novel opens, Nina is reluctantly persuaded by her politically opportunistic sister-in-law, Miriam, to travel to Washington, D.C., where Father Bernard is considering a deal that would return him to power. With the brutal murder and public defamation of her close friend, Michael Debord, an insider in the administration of US President Jeffrey Benton, Nina’s investigation suddenly takes a personal turn, as she heads south to find Michael’s killer and return Bernard to power.