A Grave Mistake (Bayou Series)

Dead: one ordinary man. Just the latest in a string of losers in the wrong place at the worst time. Not the kind of case to yank New Orleans homicide detective Guy Gautreaux back from his leave of absence in Toussaint, Louisiana.

There's someone in Toussaint Guy will do anything to protect. Jilly Gable is desperate to find the love of the family who abandoned her as a child. And when the wife of a powerful New Orleans antiques dealer and loan shark sweeps into town claiming to be her mother, Jilly is all too willing to love and forget.

Slowly and methodically, evil closes in on Jilly, and only the truth—and Guy—can save her. Connecting the dots between the Big Easy and Toussaint all but cinches his case, but Jilly and Guy are still in danger. They have only each other for protection.

But will that be enough?

Publishers Weekly

A trail of murder wends its way from New Orleans to nearby Toussaint, La., in bestseller Cameron's steamy novel of romantic suspense. Beautiful Jilly Gable finds herself turning for help to Guy Gautreaux, a New Orleans homicide cop on a leave of absence, after a murder at her bakery shop brings Guy's former homicide partner to Toussaint to warn his old buddy of danger. The author pulls out all the gothic stops, from the foreboding house to the estranged family. Stock characters include a woman held virtual prisoner, a rich and powerful man accustomed to buying whatever or whomever he wants, a flamboyant healer and a sympathetic priest. Throughout, the focus remains on the will-they-won't-they romance between Jilly and Guy, a relationship fueled by passion and frustrated by constant misunderstandings. Cameron (Kiss Them Goodbye) handles the sex scenes better than she does the plotting or police work, and her clich -ridden prose may put off the unsuspecting, but fans should be satisfied. Agent, Damaris Rowland at Rowland & Axelrod. (Nov.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Stella Cameron is the New York Times, USA Today, and Washington Post bestselling, award-winning author of more than 45 historical and contemporary romantic suspense novels and novellas. Each of her single-title releases has appeared on the Waldenbooks mass market and romance lists, and on the Barnes & Noble list.

Stella has won the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award for Romantic Suspense, and both Waldenbooks and Bookrak sales awards. In 1998 she was the recipient of the Pacific Northwest Writers' Association Achievement Award for distinguished professional achievement and for enhancing the stature of the Northwest literary community.

Stella is married and has three children--one married. Her passions are (surprise!) writing, reading (everything), music (music holds the same position as food in her life), drama--anything performed on a stage. "If I don't have tickets for a performance waiting on my desk, I go into a funk. I should have put my animals before the theatre...." Stella's pets, a dog named Spike and a cat named Raven, are her constant buddies. When she's away on trips, buying gifts for the two furry friends is at the top of her list of "musts." Are they spoiled? You betcha.