Claire is too innocent to suspect that her marriage is a cruel farce, believing instead that the dangerous accidents that keep appearing in her path are just thataccidents. She wedded Justin Leroux suddenly and silently. He was the tall dark stranger of her girlhood dreams, and had finally come to take her away. She returns with him to Sans Songe, the Leroux family plantation in Louisiana. A near-fatal accident on the road to the plantation does not bode well for her future there. And indeed, many nasty surprises await her at the plantation itself. Voodoo magic, poisoned food, and a murder mystery force Claire into a stalemate. She ishelpless within the bosom of her frigid and isolating new family, while her husband has yet to come to her bed. He may even be hoping for her destruction, as she is drawn into an ever more tangled web of passion and intrigue. In a harsh world where love means danger, Claire struggles just to survive.
I originally read this book in 1974, published under the author Patricia Maxwell. I loved it. The author knew how to build the suspense, while also creating a tense anticipation. Claire, clearly torn by her ambivalent feelings towards the man she was forced to marry, begins to fall under his spell, as well as her new home, the plantation Sans Songe (Without Illusion). The story twists down to a satisfying conclusion, leaving the reader searching for more books by Patricia Maxwell. It took me many years to discover that she also publishes under the name Jennifer Blake. Which left me with a whole new list of books to read. Excellent read, I would recommend it to any one who enjoys romance spun around mystery!
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