Midnight Bayou

Nora Roberts

As a young man, Declan Fitzgerald fell in love with an old plantation outside New Orleans. Manet Hall came back on the market. Declan bought it this time. Now he has left his fiancee and lawyer position in Boston and moved to Louisiana. That life hadn't been right for him. He enjoys rehabbing houses. He's going to restore Manet Hall to it's glory when it was built in the late 1800's. The thing he doesn't suspect is the presence of ghosts at the plantation.

A young bride had disappeared on the eve of the new century. Although her husband loved Abigail, his family hated her for her Cajun background. When her husband returned home he was told she ran off with a lover and left their baby daughter to him. In reality, she had been accidentally murdered. To cover up the crime, the family wrapped her up and dumped her body in the bayou. For over 100 years the legend is that she ran off. For over 100 years, the baby daughter's descendents believe Abigail was killed. Now she haunts the house.

Declan is only in the house a short time when he first sees Lena down by the pond. She is playing catch with a dog. Lena's grandmother lives in the small Cajun house just outside Manet Hall property. Lena owns a busy, successful bar in the French Quarter and visits her grandmother from time to time. They meet through one of Declan's friends.

Lena does casual relationships with men, but refuses to get serious. She will not be hurt and abandoned by a man. Declan has other ideas. He realizes very quickly that Lena is the woman he wants to marry. Declan has a busy life - rebuilding Manet Hall. He is being manipulated by a ghost living in the hall. Plus, he wants to convince Lena they are a couple.

Midnight Bayou has a lush setting. The characters have potential. Yet compared to other of Nora Roberts' paranormal romantic suspense novels, it is lacking. Of course even average Nora Roberts novels are a satisfactory read. The elements are there, but don't quite gel. Perhaps it is because the first scene in the book is the death of Abigail. The readers knows from the beginning what happened in the past.

New Orleans is frenetic during Mardi Gras season. Midnight Bayou has a scene from one night the Saturday before Mardi Gras. Although the scene doesn't give justice to the season, Roberts is able to make a person wonder how the locals and businesses make it through the season with their sanity.

Midnight Bayou would be a good beach book. Enjoy the twist with the ghosts.

Notice:  Strong indecent language, Strong sexual content