Carl Reader

Mamba in a Basket Carl Reader

Allie Slayton might be a feminist detective, but the situation he faces in Mamba In A Basket forces him to make use of all the dark skills he learned as a Vietnam veteran and former college football player. An ancient African woman brings a body part to his office in North Philadelphia and commands him to find the rest of the anatomy. Sickened, he immediately gets the police involved, who suspect him of cannibalism. He's hopelessly in love with his former wife, a health-food store owner, and he is the farthest thing from a cannibal, but circumstances force him out of his self-protective shell and into a hell on earth involving a mad antagonist who considers human flesh a delicacy and hopes Slayton will be his next victim. Mamba-Bo is a sick cultist with hypnotic powers and followers who do whatever unappetizing things he commands them to do. Set in Philadelphia and the country setting near New Hope, Pennsylvania, Mamba In A Basket tests Slayton and all his pacifist, philosophic powers to their limits. The story very nearly consumes him, literally.