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"Fine police procedural romance"
Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted October 25, 2003

Not long after his brother Guy died, New Orleans restaurateur David Patin dies in a fire at his establishment Chez Charlotte. Besides grieving their loss, his wife and daughter Vivian are shocked to learn how in debt they are. They move to Guy's former estate Rosebank, which they Read more...

"Great characters, steamy romance and suspense -a great read!"
Reviewed by Lory Martin
Courtesy Old Book Barn Gazette
Posted October 29, 2003

Vivian Patin and her mother are trying to restore the family fortunes by rebuilding Rosebank, a rundown plantation she's inherited, to its once-famous glory and turn it into a resort hotel. Someone doesn't want them to succeed and dead bodies start turning up on the grounds, including the lawyer who Read more...

In Kiss Them Goodbye, Stella Cameron returns to Toussaint, Louisiana, where sinuous cypress trees reach across the bayou to shade opaque waters from the relentless sun . . .but the shadows hide a dark and deadly danger.

Summary

Father Cyrus is worried about Sheriff Spike Devol's too- hot-to-handle relationship with Vivian Patint—especially when murder seems to follow Vivian around.

Just weeks after inheriting Rosebank, a once-magnificent plantation on the banks of Bayou Teche, David Patin died in a mysterious fire that destroyed his popular New Orleans restaurant. In the aftermath, his daughter Vivian and wife Charlotte are shocked to discover that the family finances are as run-down as their only remaining asset—Rosebank.

With her degree in hotel management and her mother's restaurant expertise, Vivian Patin decides to restore the family fortunes by turning the lushly overgrown and decaying Rosebank into a resort hotel with all the sultry charm of old Louisiana. But Vivian's dream becomes a nightmare when she finds the family's lawyer dead on the sprawling grounds of the estate—with a rose on his chest and a brilliant lipstick mark on his cheek. Suddenly Vivian begins to wonder if someone is targeting Rosebank and the Patin family . . . and if her father's death was, in fact, an accident.

Dissatisfied with the local police investigation, Vivian approaches Spike Devol, deputy sheriff of a nearly town, who has a reputation for being smart, honest and tough. She asks him to help her find the truth. But the instant attraction between them leaves Spike reluctant to get involved--until he discovers that Vivian could be the next victim. When another shocking murder occurs at Rosebank, it's clear that the stakes have never been higher—and that now it's up to Spike and Vivian to catch a killer . . . before he kills again.