Southern Comforts

From Publishers WeeklyShallow and sketchy plotting undermine Ross's (Legacy of Lies) otherwise well-written romantic intrigue. One wonders if the murder emphasized on the back cover, but occurring quite late in the story, were actually an afterthought. Celebrity journalist Chelsea Cassidy has been asked to write Roxanne Scarborough's (the Diva of Domesticity) biography. Meanwhile, architect Cash Beaudine, Chelsea's sexy, never-to-be-forgotten college lover, has been hired to restore Roxanne's Southern plantation house. While sparks fly between Cash and Chelsea, Roxanne's past?a forgotten husband?rears his low-life head only to be found dead in the ashes of the plantation house. Had the plot allowed for more development, the reader could have become engrossed in figuring out the perpetrator and the reason for the murder, but as it stands, it's hard to care. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. Product DescriptionWelcome to Raintree, Georgia -- Steamy Capital of Sin, Scandal and Murder.To her fans, Roxanne Scarbrough is the genteel Southern queen of good taste -- she's built an empire around the how-to's of gracious living. To her critics -- and there are many -- Roxanne is Queen Bitch. And now somebody wants her dead. Chelsea Cassidy, Roxanne's official biographer, knows that Roxanne is determined to keep her dark secrets buried, whatever the cost. But when Chelsea begins to unearth the truth about Roxanne's life, her search leads her back into the arms of Cash Beaudine, a man Roxanne wants for herself. And suddenly Chelsea's investigation takes on a very personal nature -- with potentially fatal consequences.