While walking to Madame Francine's to meet with a committee of African-Americans, John Colton is disconcerted when he notices that all the clubs and shops and closed and no one else is on the street. From Obadiah and Lily Rose, he learns that a murder will be committed that night, on St. John's Eve, and voodoo would be used to cover the crime. Colton learns that Charles Hammond, a visitor to New Orleans has received a voodoo doll. When Colton discovers that a voodoo rite is being held on the old Dubois plantation and Hammond is engaged to the younger Dubois sister, the administrator insists that Yancy take him to observe the ritual.
—David Bassler