Louisiana Book News

As if sensing the BP Oil Spill, James Lee Burke's latest Dave Robichaux mystery, The Glass Rainbow, brings to light the dangers of our love affair with the oil and gas industry in South Louisiana. Burke doesn't set his latest novel's theme around oil, but he doesn't shy away from laying blame in parts, as well as on the wealthy landowners and industrialists who keep Louisiana's poor in their place. It's a recurring opinion in Burke's Robichaux novels and it comes across heavy in The Glass Rainbow, one of his best novels to date. After a prison convict points the blame of unsolved homicides from Jeff Davis Parish at a New Iberia man, Robichaux, a detective with the New Iberia Police Department, begins looking into the case. It doesn't help that his adopted daughter, Alafair, is dating the grandson of a St. Mary Parish tycoon and friend of a convict-turned-celebrity-author, both of whom Robichaux cannot help but loath and both who may have ties to the case.

"St. Mary Parish had a long history as a fiefdom run by a small oligarchy that had possessed power and enormous fortunes, actually hundreds of millions of dollars, at a time when the great majority of people in the parish had possessed virtually nothing," Burke writes. "The availability of the ancient cypress trees, the alluvial soil that was among the most fertile in the world, the untapped oil and natural-gas domes that had waited aeons for the penetration of the diamond-crusted Hughes drill bit, and, most important, the low cost of the black and poor-white labor seemed like the ultimate fulfillment of a corporate dream that only a divine hand could have fashioned. Even the curds of white smoke rising from the mills into the hard blue Louisiana sky could easily be interpreted as a votive offering to a benevolent capitalist deity."

He further calls out the oil industry for its disastrous canals through the wetlands that "transformed a green-gold paradisiacal wonderland into an environmental eyesore that would probably make the most optimistic humanist reconsider his point of view."

Robichaux's criticism of the region's elite, due to years on the beat and watching the rich get away with their crimes, may be hampering his view. His daughter sure thinks so. When his buddy and half of the "Bobbsey Twins from Homicide," Clete Purcel, is accused of killing a man involved in the case, people begin thinking that Robichaux is letting his emotions rule his head.

With all Burke novels, the plot thickens with each new person Robichaux investigates, leading the case down new alleys and into grave dangers. Throughout it all, in true Burke fashion, the author crafts rich descriptions of both the New Iberia region and the characters who inhabit the area. He pens novels where readers must stop and savor words, relishing in their beauty and truly visualizing what is being told. You can hear the rain on Robichaux's tin roof, smell the musky dampness.

And even though Robichaux's, and thus Burke's comments on the oil industry's effect on our area is background to the larger plotline, its message is timely, though harsh. Tough love for a state forever linked to a dirty industry.

"Its extraction and production in Louisiana had set us free from economic bondage to the agricultural oligarchy that had ruled the state from antebellum days well into the mid-twentieth century," he writes. "But we discovered that our new corporate liege lord had a few warts on his face, too. Like the great Whore of Babylon, Louisiana was always desirable for her beauty and not her virtue, and when her new corporate suitor plunged into things, he left his mark."

Burke lives in both New Iberia and Missoula, Montana, and is a two-time Edgar Award winner. Last year he was honored by The Mystery Writers of America's highest honor -- the Grandmaster Award.

There's a "gentleman's agreement" between the sharecroppers and owners of Delacroix Plantation in Newberry, Louisiana, "an unwritten understanding instituted during slavery." It's an unspoken rule benefitting the white landowners that headstrong Hampton Bynote cannot escape, even when he leaves the plantation to try to find success in nearby New Orleans. The Secrets of Newberry by Victor McGlothin opens with Hampton making friends with Ivory "Bones" Arcineaux outside an illegal gambling house. Bones, a white man, elevates Hampton's criminal experiences, being able to burglarize homes and sell the fares to pawn shops that a black man would not be able to in 1955 Louisiana. Buoyed by his newfound income, Hampton woes a young girl named Magnolia Holiday visiting the plantation. The old race lines and past plantation history of the "agreement" continue to haunt Hampton, however, even after he finds himself falling in love with Magnolia. Then a murder of a white city councilman causes local law enforcement and the FBI follow his tail. As hard as Hampton tries to take control of his life, other forces determine his destiny. When he chooses a path at the conclusion of the book, it's one in which he finally does so on his own. The Secrets of Newberry follow both Hampton and Bones through years of a fragile friendship, based on secrets and lies, all the while Hampton tries to hold on to his family on the plantation, with equaling haunting secrets buried beneath, including an equally brittle relationship with the plantation's "Mister's" son. It's a great examination of the complicated race relations in Louisiana just prior to and after the Civil Rights Movement, tempered by the violent history which preceded this time period. My only complaints with this novel is that McGlothin needs to put food and popular fiction in context. He describes New Orleans as serving up Cajun food, particularly a blackened fish dish, which did not happen pre-1980s, when Chef Paul Prudhomme invented blacked redfish. He also has Magnolia quoting sensual dialogue from a romance novel, which again didn't happen pre-1980, when a sexual revolution transformed the genre. But those are minor details in a novel rich with historical references that make both the suspenseful story, and the cultural implications, come alive.

When Katie Charmaine was young, she fell fast and hard for Zack Ferguson, a boy visiting the small Louisiana town for the summer. One night things went too far, Katie ended up a mother and Zack disappeared. Because of her age, Katie gave the child up for adoption and moved on with her life, including marrying a man who served and died in Iraq. A lonesome widow 16 years later, Zack walks back into her life, accompanied by the child she gave up who is now following in her footsteps -- pregnant and unmarried.  Such is the beginning of Still the One by Robin Wells of New Orleans, a fun romance that deals with the special love we experience in high school and the forgiveness and love needed to move on with our lives and help those coming behind us, in this case Katie and Zack's daughter through her own adolescence. Wells is the author of How to Score and Between the Sheets and sets her books in South Louisiana.

Charlaine Harris left Sookie Stackhouse fans with a Fae War, political chaos among the Louisiana vampires and some other supernatural conflicts in last year's Dead and Gone, part of the series that inspired TrueBlood on HBO. Since "if it's May, it's must be Sookie" (a new novel comes out every May), the latest in the series, Dead in the Family, continues the travails of Bon Temps, Louisiana, with more unrest among the "supes" and vampires who surround Sookie Stackhouse, a telepath.

Naturally, Harris fans will be thrilled. Sookie struggles to rebound after the deliberating war and comes to grips with her new bond with Eric, the vampire sheriff of Bon Temps, but something is amiss in the woods behind her house. Her cousin, Claude, a fairy who's usually full of himself, asks to live with her, showing kindness not exhibited before but is he the fairy patrolling the woods at night? When the local werewolves use her property for a full moon midnight run, they discover traces of fae and vampire scents and a corpse, which begins a series of problems among the pack that include Sookie, not to mention Claude and other fae. Then Eric's "maker" arrives, bringing along a resurrected tsarevitch who's mentally unstable due to the murder of his entire family during the Russian Revolution. Everything comes to a head by the end, of course, and Sookie fans will delight in yet another fine dose of action with everyone's favorite telepath, who's now approaching 30.

For those not familiar with the series, it's best not to start with this book. So much has happened since book one, Harris spends several chapters just bringing readers up to speed; newbies will be totally lost. She then layers lots more on top, keeping readers guessing how all will conclude until the very last page. I had to admit, having read the series from the beginning I was confused myself (wishing I had reread the last book first) and wished for the old days when plots revolved around a few characters based out of Merlotte's. But I guess that's what comes from a series that's lasted as long as this one, or having a TV series interfere since much of what happens on HBO is derived from the first books (although they take license with Harris' plots and characters). Overall, Dead in the Family delivers, supernatural fiction at its best. Sookie fans will once again rejoice that it's May.

Best-selling author Isabel Allende (Daughter of Fortune, Ines of My Soul) travels to the French colonial island of Saint Domingue, now Haiti, in her latest historical novel, Island Beneath the Sea. The story follows a young mulatto girl named Zarite, or Tete for short, the product of an African mother and white slave trader. From her young beginnings, Tete attempts to escape her bondage, until she is purchased as a companion for a planter's new bride and educated to be a house servant by a courtesan named Violette Boisier. She ends up in the house of Toulouse Valmorain, a French nobleman who has come to rescue his father's sugar plantation. As Valmorain's wife sinks into insanity, Valmorain turns to Tete for affection, always believing that Africans are less human than whites. Tete, on the other hand, finds comfort in a recent African arrival, a man who will later participate in the slave uprisings on the island and be responsible for the household's safety. Allende describes both the brutal conditions of the island's sugar plantations and the slave revolt it incites. She also discusses the politics involved on both sides of the Atlantic, from the tensions between the colony's free blacks and whites to the new government arising from the French Revolution and its views on the rights of all citizens. When the Valmorain household finally flees Haiti for New Orleans, Tete continues her servitude in the Louisiana colony, and her quest for liberty continues. Even as her hopes of becoming a free woman of color materialize, she is bound to Valmorain in many other ways and the legacy of slavery continues to haunt them all. The Haitian uprising resulted in numerous French aristocracies arriving in New Orleans, changing the culture of the city forever. The city also provided an exile for both slave-owners and free blacks looking to rebuild their lives. Island Beneath the Sea examines this transitory time in New Orleans' history, but it also offers a graphic glimpse into the violent history of Haiti and the treacherous industry that was the slave trade. Through Tete's eyes, readers will view this tragic history as well as realize that all society suffered from the enslavement of people and the separation of races.

Ben Farmer is excited. He's found newly acquired but little-known historic information, like an Indiana Jones discovering a lost tribe. He's fired up about his subject matter, ready to spread the tale to the world. Farmer is a high school teacher who writes non- fiction books for Overlook Press. When his editor Peter Mayer approached him about writing the novelization of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, Evangeline, the colonial historian gladly gave a few chapters for consideration. Mayer liked what he read and Farmer's debut novel, Evangeline, is now on shelves.

"The Acadians were a footnote all the way through college," Farmer said of his education. "It's (the Acadian settlement and deportation) largely forgotten. Historically speaking, I saw this as a tremendous opportunity."

The book faithfully follows Longfellow's poem but adds background material on both characters Gabriel Lajeunesse and Evangeline Bellefontaine, two only children who fall in love and plan to marry, only to be separated by the English when they deported the Acadians from their homeland of Nova Scotia beginning in 1755. The book also keeps the characters firmly in the 18th century, describing in great detail "a more accurate portrayal of Colonial America" as opposed to Longfellow's view that's more relative to his time, Farmer said. Longfellow published the poem in 1847.

"These were refugees without anything at all," Farmer explained. "They were really living in poor conditions. The casualty rate was extremely high."

What makes Farmer so excited about the Acadians and their history, however, is not just the injustice of what he calls "an early example of genocide." He sees the Acadians as the healthiest people in North America before le grand derangement, or expulsion, with good farmland, big families and a friendly relationship with their Indian neighbors, one of the reasons they were so desperate to get back to Canada.

"Acadians were anxious to have a life in Nova Scotia because it was better than most colonists," he said. He also sees Acadians as the precursor to Jeffersonian America, calling them the "early American ideal" with their family values, neutrality and desire for "sensible, ordinary" rights.

"Basically, the first North American people are the Acadians," Farmer said. "And it's such a staggering thing that happened."
--Chere Coen, Published April 18, 2010

Lily Davis Woodward may see life differently than most proper Southern girls in the small town of Toccoa, Ga., but her wild spirit doesn't stop her from marrying the perfect man who works for her father, a Coke-Cola executive. When World War II erupts, Lily marries Paul Woodward and he leaves for war, leaving Lily with a massive empty house as a wedding present. Just before Paul returns home from Europe and back into Lily's arms, Lily spots fireworks in a field and that old adventurous spirit returns. Examining the area she meets Jack Russo, the son of an Italian immigrant who has also returned from the war and taken up his father's profession in pyrotechnics. Russo suffers internal war wounds, including watching his father being sent to a U.S. containment camp because of his Italian heritage. Lily and Jack's night in the field around a campfire, sharing personal stories, creates a bond neither one expects. Fireworks Over Toccoa by Jeffrey Stepakoff follows the few days Lily and Jack have together before Paul returns, and the ultimate decision Lily must make to determine her future happiness. It's a sweet tale of not only finding your soul mate but living a life true to your heart. Stepakoff writes for television, including The Wonder Years, Major Dad and Dawson's Creek. Fireworks Over Toccoa is his first novel, a heartfelt love story with an unexpected but satisfying ending.

Move over Sam Spade. Mike Sheppard's in the house! In Red Planet Noir, the debut novel of Baton Rouge author D.B Grady, Sheppard plays the lead role of a hard-drinking gumshoe with a broken heart. In Red Planet Noir Earth has large portions no longer inhabitable after anthrax and other deadly forces wrecked their havoc. What's scary is the future Grady paints has some potential truth and reality to it. Sheppard, a cop turned private investigator, has seen better days. So when approached by a beautiful woman to prove a suicide was not what it seems, what does he have to lose? The problem is the maybe suicide happened on Mars! This tale tells of a future time where man has colonized Mars under atmospheric shields and is living a life of safety "beneath the watchful eyes." This once "somebody" P.I. uses all his skills to make his beautiful client happy, but she plays him like an old violin. With mob bosses, union bosses, crooked cops and an old war hero on the skids, you don't have to be a fan of sci-fi to enjoy Red Planet Noir. Sheppard is a character you'll be rooting for all the way to the end. And just when you think you have it all figured out, the author throws yet another curve. A good read to the last word. All this reader can ask is: When can we expect more Mike Sheppard? If you're like me, you'll be sorry to see the story end, and in my book, that's a story well told. ($14.99 Brown Street Press) --Lynn Castille

It all begins with a slap, the moment when a parent loses her temper after constant struggles with a teenage child and raises her hand in anger. That's how George Bishop's novel begins. As Laura waits for her daughter, Liz, to return after storming out her Baton Rouge home, she channels her guilt, frustration, fear and anger into a letter, one that attempts to explain to Liz that yes, she knows what it is like to be a teenager. Letter to My Daughter explores the modern relationship between parents and teens, juxtaposed with the stormy adolescence of the Baby Boomer generation. As Laura pours out her heart through writing, we learn of her early heartbreak, when her parents forced her apart from the young man she loved and the disastrous consequences that followed, that parental worry about what is best for a child, a fear that can be both protective and destructive, remains universal. Bishop's debut novel will tear at your heartstrings, giving an amazing insight into the difficult lessons and tribulations of adolescence, particularly among women. -- Chere Coen

Ken Wheaton brings a fresh voice to what many consider the great Southern American novel, even if it's primarily Cajun humor, in his debut The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival (Kensington). The book revolves around Father Steve Sibille, who has come home to the rural parish of Grand Prairie, Louisiana, a few miles away from where he grew up in Opelousas. His flock consists of mainly elderly white citizens who don't raise an eyebrow where people burp and fart in church, along with a few other colorful citizens, including Miss Rita, a centenarian with a passion for whiskey and pork products who helped raise Sibille while caring for his Mawmaw. The festival begins when Sibille discovers a Pentecostal church being built nearby, one larger than the bingo hall-esque St. Peter's Church, and headed by a charismatic preacher with a competitive edge. Sibille organizes the event as a way to keep his congregation too busy to be lured by another religion. Brother Paul, or "B.P.," is not one be to showed up by a rabbit festival, however, so as the competition increases, so does the humor, particularly a funny scene involving a Cajun named Boudreaux, a cow, a sheep and a pig and a Cajun microwave. The humor in Wheaton's novel emerges from the cast of characters and their simple everyday occurrences, and when you live in the South you know how humor stares you in the face, just waiting to be written down. However, capturing that essence that is all Southern -- or in this case Cajun -- takes a special creative pen and Wheaton wields with aplomb. The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival is laugh-out-loud, recognize-your-mawmaw funny and provides lots of great comic insight into religion (more so for congregations and less so for religious hierarchies, I might add. Wheaton lives in Brooklyn now, editor and writer for Advertising Age magazine. But he was raised in Acadiana. "I went to Opelousas Catholic from kindergarten straight through graduation in 1991," he wrote me by email. "My mama and them from the Grand Prairie/Ville Platte area mostly and my Dad's side from Opelousas/Port Barre. My stepdad's family was straight Opelousas. My stepmom's family are Pentecostals from the Krotz Springs area." All of which explain so much of what he writes in the book -- not to mention the reality of it all, despite Wheaton's insistence "the whole thing's a damn lie." Wheaton is also a graduate of Long Island University-Southampton and USL.

Tobie Guinness can touch a sealed envelope and not understand its contents, but "see" the location of the object through what the U.S. Navy calls "remote viewing," a form of ESP. After Tobie views a World War II German submarine outside an abandoned shipyard, the CIA begins to suspect it may be linked to a terrorism communication they intercepted. Attached to the case is CIA agent Jax Alexander, out of favor with the higher ups, who's cynical when it comes to remote viewing, what he refers to as "woo woo." The two link up to trace why the submarine was raised and its contents stolen in an effort to discover this possible threat to the U.S. in C.S. Graham's The Solomon Effect. From the beginning of the case, Jax and Tobie follow clues that lead them on to a bigger picture and into serious danger. On their heels are hired killers trying to stop them from discovering the contents of the U-boat and what it means. That in itself provides plenty of conflict and suspense, but the authors throw in lots of history, some readily understood and some they claim concealed by the governments involved. Did the Germans develop an atomic weapon program and did the U.S. secretly harbor these scientists after the war? What about the millions of civilians killed in World War II because they were in the wrong place? There's so much to ponder that the authors provide a whole chapter on discussing what is fiction and what is real in the back of the book. C.S. Graham is the pseudonym of writing team Steven Harris and Candice Proctor of New Orleans. Harris spent 21 years as an Army Intelligence officer and that experience clearly shines in this work. The plot and intrigue is believable enough to make this a page-turning thriller. My only disappointment would be the character of Tobie, whose talent is utilized to help solve the mystery but completely shadowed by know-it-all Jax. Tobie is forever asking questions, while Jax explains all. A team effort where the man doesn't do all the talking would have made the book more enjoyable -- at least for this woman. The Solomon Effect continues the story of these characters which began in The Archangel Project and more books are scheduled. You can read about the talented writing duo at www.csgrahambooks.com

Journalist Lois Barker's best friend and colleague decides to leave their large Midwest newsroom and buy a small-town twice-weekly newspaper in Green, Louisiana. Before Zach is able to put his dream into action, a bout with leukemia takes his life. To her surprise, Zach leaves the Green News-Item to Lois, with a guarantee to the previous owners that whoever takes the newspaper over will keep it at least a year. Lois decides to forgo her promotion in Dayton and give Green a year, but the northern Louisiana town holds many more surprises. The newspaper has its share of eccentrics, hard workers and cheats, a real estate developer and the newspaper's "Big Boys" give her grief, her home for the year is far out into the country and initially plagued with rats and entertainment is basically going to church. In the end, Lois makes cherished friends, thrives on the rush of small-town news and helps turn old thinking around with progressive action. Without giving away the ending -- you might imagine she stays considering it's the first of a series but I'm not telling -- Gone to Green provides lovely character development of a woman searching for meaning and finding God's assistance, among valued friendship and a challenging career. It's a charming inspirational book that doesn't hit you over the head with character angst and whining, followed by preaching and the skies opening up. Instead, Gone to Green shows small-town America in its varied colors, revolving around a young woman trying to make a difference and finding solace by listening within and finding answers, not to mention peace. Christie is the author of Hurry Less, Worry Less and Goodbye Murphy's Law, and that optimism shines through her debut novel that's written with warmth and humor. She's also a newsroom veteran, so her depiction of journalism is spot on.  Whether it's fighting City Hall or painting obits on the front door, you'll love the newspaper staff in Gone to Green, plus the town's many delightful residents. It's a novel that will leave you smiling.

Englishman R.J. Ellory was orphaned at 7 and wound up in prison for poaching at 17. While in jail he immersed himself with reading and began to write 22 novels in longhand.

He submitted his novels to publishers on both sides of the Pond but American publishers were leery of an Englishman writing about America and English publishers were leery of American stories penned by an Englishman. He sold his first book in the U.K., however, and Candlemoth was instantly shortlisted for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award. Five other novels followed.

But it was A Quiet Belief in Angels that won him best-seller status, shortlisted for numerous awards and now published in 21 countries. This week the Southern-based thriller will be published stateside and Americans will be introduced to a haunting book expertly written.

 In the book, Joseph Vaughn loses his father at an early age and it is at this point that the young Georgian contemplates the existence of angels and death walking the earth to collect souls. A classmate is murdered when Joseph is 12 and then another. The fear of a serial killer grips the rural town, while the world's focus remains on Europe and the rise of Adolph Hitler.

Joseph takes it upon himself to serve as protector of the town's children, organizing a group of boys called The Guardians, but the killings continue, and their failure haunts them the rest of their lives.

Because the killings take place during World War II, a German is suspected, a close friend of Joseph and his mother. And when a man is found hanged by his own hand, items from the girls scattered about, for a while people suspect the worst is over. Joseph then heads to New York to become a writer, hoping to escape the horrors of his youth, but is continually plagued by the past.

Ellory keeps readers guessing until the very end, a kaleidoscope of suspects revolving as new evidence is unearthed. As the narrator, Joseph makes uneasy comments that make us doubt his innocence as well. And throughout the entire story, Ellory's beautifully descriptive writing delivers us to a rural place in America that's chillingly evil as it is pristine and innocent.

Here's an example of Ellory describing the intense Georgia heat:

"The sun, high and bold, blanched the sky like water through albumin tempera, itself the whole and unblemished yolk, the air white and sparse and rarified. The ground that underscored the horizon was a shadow of ochre, a rust-stain barely washed from cotton; imprecise and lacking certainty, and everywhere dust motes and citrus blackflies and greenhouse thripes, the atmosphere seemingly possessed of insufficient substance to carry anything of weight.

"...Smell of pine in the air, pine and something earthy, something that hung beneath everything like a shadow.

"It took me a while to figure out what it was. It was the coppery smell of spilled blood that had seeped into the earth."

A Quiet Belief in Angels is one of those rare books where you grab anyone walking by to read them passages so you can hear his beautiful words out loud, a book where you long to underline well-written sentences to recount later but you can't stop reading long enough to find a pencil.

Introduce yourself to R.J. Ellory. A Quiet Belief in Angels is the first of more to come.

Earlene Stewart of Crowley offers this take on James Lee Burke's latest novel, Rain Gods:

"In Rain Gods storylines twist and tangle, knot and unknot for more than 400 pages, ending in the expected triumph of Good over Evil. What is not expected is Bourke's intense exploration of the histories and psyches of his characters, making the reader well aware of the thin line separating 'normal' from 'psycho.' Read for an hour, put the book down for a couple of days and when you pick it up again you'll have no trouble remembering exactly where the narrative left off. It's not a pretty story but it's pure James Lee Bourke. A good read."

Summer Releases 2009

Faith Hunter is a native of Louisiana, so it's natural for her to set her fantasy novel about a Cherokee descendant who hunts vampires for a living in New Orleans. Jane Yellowrock is the last of her kind, called a skinwalker because she can shapeshift into any creature she desires. In Skinwalker (ROC Fantasty), Jane is hired by an old vampire and the madam of Katies's Ladies to hunt a rogue vampire who's killing other vamps.

Baton Rouge's Clarence Nero has published Too Much of a Good Thing Ain't Bad (Broadway Books), a followup to his 2006 novel set in the Ninth Ward, Three Sides to Every Story. Nero, whom Maya Angelou calls "one of our most promising writers," teaches English and creative writing at LSU.

 Frank Turner Hollon, a graduate of LSU and Tulane, has published Austin & Emily (MacAdam/Cage), a story about an overweight salesman who finds love in a Florida strip joint. Hollon is author of The God File and Life is a Strange Place and lives in Alabama.

 Vicki Allen's fourth novel, Drink One To Me, Christian Bennett, is an adventurous tale that takes readers to Mexico, the Bahamas and beyond. The book is published by Magnolia Publishing of Pineville.
 Allen's previous works include The Search for Shannon, a fiction finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award.

Tall, Dark and Cajun

Sandra Hill, the popular fiction novelist of Cajun romances such as Tall, Dark and Cajun, The Cajun Cowboy and The Red-Hot Cajun, returns to the Houma area in her latest, So Into You. Readers can revisit cast members of previous books, such as Tante Lulu, the eccentric traiteur who dabbles in everyone's business, the ex-nun and poker champion Grace O'Brien and treasure hunter Angel Sabato. This time, the sparks fly between Grace and Angel, while Tante Lulu and Grace discover a group of kids living on their own after losing their father to Hurricane Katrina. Mixed into the story is Grace's daughter who she gave up for adoption years before.  Hill offers fun stories with lots of local color and sexual attraction and So Into You is no exception. I do have to wonder, however, why she discusses hurricanes Katrina and Ike and the damage they incurred to New Orleans, including a plea at the beginning of the book to check out her Web site and her list of recommended charities, but fails to mention Hurricane Gustav, which directly impacted the Houma area. The main characters spend much time helping out the Katrina family at a time when most likely they would have been repairing their own homes! For those on this side of the Atchafalaya, you might also scoff at the use of tomatoes in her etouffee recipe at the back of the book or the "tall glass of sweet tea" she recommends drinking while making the roux.

What if Salem actually had witches or one of those tried and hanged in 1692 was actually guilty of what was then called witchcraft? That's the premise of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, a historically creative and suspenseful novel by Katherine Howe, a PhD student in American and New England studies and a descendent of two Salem residents, one who survived the witch trials (Elizabeth Proctor) and one who did not (Elizabeth Howe). Main character Connie Goodwin is a graduate student at Harvard specializing in colonial history. When her eccentric mother asks her to clean up her grandmother's old house in Marblehead, Mass., in preparation for sale, Connie reluctantly agrees. What she finds in the dilapidated home is evidence of what may have been a "physick" book of Deliverance Dane, also known as an almanac or receipt book for healing, containing herbal remedies and charms. Connie begins what will be a long journey to not only find the book, but discover what happened to Deliverance and her descendants, a road that curves and brings Connie back home. Howe interjects the story of Deliverance and her children in between Connie's story, allowing readers a first-hand glimpse into the persecution of the so-called witches in Salem and what may have been misinterpreted as the "devil's work" in the context of pre-scientific colonial society. Connie's mentor at Harvard rears his head as well, adding to the suspense, and Connie's new love interest speeds up the conflict when time becomes precious. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane provides many great elements of a good read: great characters, suspenseful action building to a satisfying ending and well-researched history that makes the plot plausible. Howe spins a magical tale that's hard to put down. Perhaps she carries the witches' blood after all.

New Orleans author Nevada Barr spent years in the National Park System as a ranger and she turned that interesting environment into the settings for her series of mystery novels. Her heroine, Anna Pigeon, is also a ranger, traveling throughout the country encountering suspenseful situations from Key West and the Natchez Trace Parkway to Carlsbad Caverns and Yosemite. In Barr's last novel, Winter Study, Pigeon participated in a wolf study that resulted in her killing a man in Isle Royal, near the border of Canada. In her latest book, Borderline, Barr shifts the story to another border, this time with Mexico. Pigeon is vacationing at Big Bend National Park in an effort to tame her post-traumatic stress disorder, joining her husband and some college students on a raft trip down the Rio Grande. Unfortunately for Pigeon, the trip is anything but relaxing. The group discovers a near-death pregnant woman tangled in the river and then a shooter starts taking shots at the group. When Pigeon manages to escape and find help, she discovers a group of politicians meeting to discuss border issues, the mayor of Houston hoping to announce her gubernatorial candidacy and her bodyguard with a colorful history dedicating to protecting the mayor at all costs. Everything eventually ties in together and it's difficult to know which way Barr will point to the killer. In the process, readers receive a great tour of an expansive national park that's beautiful as much as it's political with its border gracing Mexico. Borderline is Barr's 15th Anna Pigeon novel and, as always, well written, suspenseful and an educational tour of one of America's finest parks. You can check out all the other Pigeon novels at www.nevadabarr.com.

FBI agent Chase Jones sends his brother, Luke, to get pizza and Luke ends up witnessing a mob hit. While the psychologist goes into hiding, Chase agrees to impersonate him for the clients who call in regularly. He mistakingly helps Sammi Matthews with her dating problems -- before finding his brother's note advising otherwise -- and pretty soon he's in over his head when he falls for the museum curator in How to Score by Robin Wells, a New Orleans author. Chase doesn't mean to get involved, but through a series of events he both dates Sammi and offers phone advice as Luke. Of course, Chase must make amends sooner or later and knows that the trust Sammi has developed with him will be crushed. Wells develops a cute plotline that could easily be predictable and contrite but How to Score is a fun, character-driven romance full of wonderful subplots and snappy personalities that all tie in perfectly at the book's conclusion. Not only do you root for the main characters but you'll become attached to the troubled spinster boss with an attitude and the inflexible landlord wanting to sell Sammi's historic home from under her. And the timing couldn't be better; How to Score is the perfect beach book.

Sookie's back!

Hoorah for Sookie Stackhouse fans. The good news is the ninth book of the paranormal mystery series set in the town of Bon Temps in northern Louisiana is out. The bad news is Dead and Gone leaves us hungry for more. The series follows a young telepathic waitress named Sookie Stackhouse whose life changes when vampires come out of the coffin, so to speak, after synthetic blood is produced by the Japanese. Since vampires don't have brain waves, Sookie finds being with them, one in particular, a welcome relief. The best-selling books have also spawned the popular HBO series, True Blood, filmed in Shreveport, Mansfield and surrounding areas. For those of you just starting the series, you might want to skip this part. For those of you anxiously awaiting this book, things heat up considerably among the supernaturals, especially after the werewolves decide to come out on their own. Sookie's happy for the "Weres" and their ability to talk freely in society for the first time, but then Sookie's pregnant estranged sister-in-law, a were-panther, is found mutilated behind the bar where she works. If that's not chilling enough, there's a war brewing between two factions of fairies, and because Sookie's great grandfather is an ancient fairy prince, Sookie is suddenly in danger of supernatural beings she can't possibly comprehend. While this may all sound cliche in the paranormal sense, Harris' writing is anything but. Sookie is a smart, clever though simple girl living in a small town where all kinds of beings exist beyond the veil of modern society. As Sookie is introduced to one after another, her life is thrown into all kinds of supernatural activity and passion between one or another flares up, keeping us all guessing as to who she will finally match up with. Harris' writing is smart, innovative and fun, providing readers with new and clever twists as Sookie attempts to make sense of it all -- and stay alive. Give yourself plenty of time to read Dead and Gone. Otherwise, you'll be up all night, intrigued by every word.

Karen Young, once a resident of New Orleans and a successful writer of contemporary women's fiction, has published her first Christian novel titled Blood Bayou by Howard Books of Monroe. The book follows Camille, the head of the Truth Project, which attempts to exonerate prisoners falsely imprisoned and her ex-husband, Jack, who has moved from a high-powered corporate attorney to pastor of a church in Blood Bayou. When Jack's sister is murdered, supposedly by a mentally-challenged man Camille has set free, the two must cross paths once again.

Sandy Lyne

Sandy Lyne Remembered

Sandy Lyne lived in South Louisiana for nine years until his death, and Acadiana was lucky for his presence. A Kentucky native and graduate of the MFA program in writing at the University of Iowa, Lyne also taught children as an artist educator with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He published many books of poetry and instructed teachers of writing. He moved to Louisiana where "for the last nine years of his life, he often said that it was here that his inner poet came alive again," writes his sister Jayn Stewart in the introduction of his final collection of poetry, In the Footsteps of Paradise. "That summer that I helped him move from Virginia to Louisiana, he took me all over Cajun country to eat the food, listen to music, and dance until midnight. He savored all that the culture of Louisiana offered, and it was here that he met his beloved partner, Fran Clark, to whom this book is dedicated." I first learned about Lyne when Clark held an event in honor of Lyne and wrote me to tell me about it. I was moved by his soulful poetry, rich and heartfelt images of his life, his thoughts. Now Loch Raven Press, headed by a former student of Lyne's, Jim Doss, has published Lyne's final collection of poems at the two-year anniversary of Lyne's death. In the Footsteps of Paradise is an outstanding collection and homage that should be on every poet lover's bookshelf. "I am repeatedly struck by the range of poems in this collection: the psychological range, the poetic range, the imaginative range," writes Louisiana Poet Laureate Darrell Bourque on the book's cover. "Whatever they are in the shapes and turns they take, they are always poems centered in and sung from the geography of the human heart."

Thibodaux's June Shaw, who introduced widow Cealie Gunther in the mystery Relative Danger, brings the sleuth back, this time in Gatlinburg, Tenn., in her latest thriller Killer Cousins (Five Star, $25.95). Cealie's been trying to find herself, so to speak, which is why she's sworn off Louisiana lover Gil Thurman and headed for Mexico. Cealie stops in Gatlinburg when her candle-burning, crystal-wearing cousin Stevie Midnight insists she is in danger and in need of her cousin's assistance. Before Cealie can cross Stevie's threshold and inquire as to her fear, she stumbles over a dead man's body in the front yard. Stevie's behavior is increasingly odd, her house contains a strange spare bedroom and the dead man was a member of her Stop Smoking Group. Then others begin to die. And, as in Relative Danger, Gil shows up as well, opening a new Cajun restaurant in town, causing Cealie additional grief. Shaw has lots of fun with her mysteries and you will too. It's a laughable romp with some eccentric characters -- and a few spicy Cajun dishes thrown in too.

Deborah Leblanc of Lafayette's latest horror-suspense novel with paranormal elements -- how's that for a subgenre? -- involves a women with one too many fingers. In Water Witch (Dorchester), Dunny Pollock has six fingers on one hand and that extra appendage helps her and others find lost things with its supernatural abilities; her extra finger turns warm or moves to show her where things are hidden. Dunny hates this special talent for everyone wants to use her to retrieve everything from lost pets to oil. And worse, when searching for her sister's lost cat, Dunny's finger tingled intense cold and the calico turned up dead. When she receives a call from her sister in Louisiana, where two children have gone missing, Dunny doesn't want to get involved. But she can't turn down her sister's pleas, especially sensing that something else is amiss. And, of course, plenty things are amiss down in the swamps and LeBlanc takes the reader on a wild ride through the dark, dank waters. Needless to say, Dunny's finger gets darn cold a lot! Evil forces are at work and the good people of Bayou Crow must work fast to save the children. Like LeBlanc's previous novels, Water Witch ranks high on the spook meter, a great read for Halloween.

It's always gratifying to see books buck trends. Or anything creative for that matter. Notice how every male reviewer in America is currently trashing Mamma Mia, the new film based on the popular theatrical musical, calling it a sappy chick flick, yet movie theaters are full of women laughing, singing and clapping? Maybe -- and correct me please if I'm wrong -- it's okay to love nice stories that make you feel good, even if they don't contain car scenes, special effects or gratuitous violence.

This week I read one of the most charming, sweet yet emotionally powerful books, and as I read each page and laughed and cried I couldn't help thinking, "Wow, a feel-good book that's beautifully written and clever!" Thank you, Dial Press, for not only letting this one slip by but promoting it heavily as well.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is the debut novel of the late Mary Ann Shaffer, who died while the book was being edited, and her niece, Annie Barrows, author of the children's series Ivy and Bean and The Magic Half. Also bucking the trends is that it's told in epistolary fashion, a story told through a series of letters written by the main character, Juliet Ashton, to a host of colorful characters on the island of Guernsey off the English coast. There are other letter writers as well, including the Juliet's publisher, her best friend and a dashing but arrogant American suitor.

Juliet is a London writer traveling on a book tour promoting her collection of newspaper columns in which she humorously looked at World War II. She receives a letter from a man on the island of Guernsey who has found a copy of Charles Lamb with her name inside as part of a book club he belongs to. He writes to Ashton in the hopes of receiving more information on Lamb, now his favorite author, since books are hard to come by in post-war Guernsey. Juliet is more than happy to oblige and learns that in occupied Guernsey, Germans confiscated most animals. A small group of people managed to hide a pig and, on returning home that night and confronted by Germans on patrol, the most courageous of the bunch claimed they were at a book club meeting. And with that announcement, the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society began.

When Juliet is asked to write a story on the art of reading for the London newspaper, she enlists her literary friends to explain what reading means to them. They pour in letters, relating stories of themselves, their quirky friends, island life and the harsh conditions under the Germans and how the book club got them through. Soon, Juliet listens for "the sound of the post dropping in the box" and hurries to retrieve the latest news from her newly acquired friends. And even though Juliet's book, Izzy Bickerstaff Goes to War, is selling well, she is having difficulty coming up with a new subject. Or maybe she's tired of writing as someone else or being flippant during a trying time.

"I did make fun of many war-time situations; the Spectator felt a light approach to the bad news would serve as an antidote and that humor would help to raise London's low morale," she writes to one of her Guernsey friends. "I am very glad Izzy served that purpose, but the need to be humorous against the odds is -- thank goodness -- over."

In time, Juliet finds her muse, along with a host of friends, a persistent suitor, a young charge and a few surprises.

The book resonates with the personalities of the Islanders, not to mention the headstrong, vibrant Juliet. But within passages that make us laugh are the horrible realities of World War II, seeping through the letters like a cold breeze nipping at our necks, reminding us not to forget the autrocities. And as each Guernsey resident relates their experiences under the occupation, they consistently mention their ringleader, Elizabeth McKenna, another stubborn fighter of a woman and the woman who named the literary organization. It's not long before we discover Elizabeth, always standing up to injustices, was arrested by the Germans and sent to the Continent to prison. Between the lines of the residents' letters is the fear they all face, that Elizabeth may be lost and her daughter orphaned.

The Wall Street Journal claims the "debut novel with several strikes against it may become one of the summer's surprise hits" and Barnes & Noble has picked it as a summer recommendation.

Don't let the cute title or the fact that it's written in letters scare you off. This charming book, the perfect combination of humor, pathos and warmth, will make your summer reading complete. It's definitely one of my favorites of the year.

This is one of the stories that breaks writers' hearts.

Rick Nelson of Houston had his New Orleans mystery novel accepted with a publication date of this spring. In December, mere weeks before the book was to hit shelves, Nelson passed away from cancer. He was 57.

I didn't realize this until I searched his Web site hoping the book, Bound by Blood (St. Martin's Minotaur), featuring a Jewish homicide detective, would become a series. How sad for the reading public that Bound by Blood may be our only work from this wonderful new voice.

The book follows Jack Brenner dealing with a failing marriage and a past of old flames and close romantic calls. Also rearing up from his youth is the unsolved murder of his cousin, David, a Civil Rights worker who was found dead in a small town south of New Orleans in 1972.

Emmet Lloyd Graves, sitting on death row, passes on information about David in the hopes of saving himself from the electric chair. But after the story hits the news, reported by Jack's old girlfriend Willow Ashe, Jack suspects he's being used.

Meanwhile, another young man, a track star like David, is gunned down in New Orleans and this new murder hits home to both Jack and his partner, who lost a brother to street violence.

Jack presses on, determined to solve both cases and to find closure for the death of his beloved cousin and friend.

The book gallops along with just the right amount of suspense, keeping us engaged with new twists and turns. Jack is a likable guy without all the stereotypical cop scenarios and police slang, and Nelson throws in a host of past conflicts to keep us guessing about both Jack's past and his current marriage.

If you love a good mystery or are a fan of James Lee Burke novels, don't miss Bound by Blood. The only downfall of this novel is that the series won't be continued.

Anna Pigeon has seen her share of conflict during her long career as a park ranger, including time in Florida and Mississippi. In her latest adventure, in Nevada Barr's Winter Study (G.P. Putnam), the character finds herself in frigid Isle Royal National Park in the midst of a wolf study. The successful analysis of the island's isolated wolves has been going on for 50 years, but the government wants to open the park in winter for border safety reasons since the island exists on the northwestern end of Lake Superior, mere miles from Canada. Opening the park would please Homeland Security but hamper the study. The story takes place with members of the Park Service, Homeland Security and the Winter Study team spending time on the island to determine the study's continued usefulness. Pigeon is along for the ride in an attempt to understand the wolves for her home base of Rocky Mountain National Park. Through almost poetic descriptions of winter life that will make your toes curl in their socks, Pigeon witnesses a massive beast beneath the trees during a park fly-over. Equally large footprints are found in the snow, plus a dead wolf is found with DNA unlike the others. The suspense intensifies when a woman is mauled and the only explanation points to the wolf packs, even though wolves are not known to attack humans. Where once Pigeon found solace in the winter night, now the darkness haunts her and she fears being stalked. As Pigeon struggles to put pieces together in this unusual mystery, she finds that the beast men carry inside themselves is more dangerous than the harsh elements of Isle Royale. Winter Study is Barr's 14th Anna Pigeon mystery, all set inside national parks. Barr began her career as a park ranger doing boat patrol on Isle Royale National Park, but her career also included the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi. Barr now lives in New Orleans.

Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre based on her own experiences as a plain governess wishing for love. She lived a parson's daughter with sisters Anne (Agnes Grey) and Emily (Wuthering Heights) also penning their own published novels, plus a poet brother who succumbed to addiction to opium and alcohol. New Orleans author Laura Joh Rowland brings Bronte to life in a fictional account of a year in the life of her family in The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Bronte (Overlook Press).

The novel begins with a letter from Charlotte's publisher asking about charges of plagiarism, since all three sisters wrote under pen names ending with Bell. Despite her sister's pleas to remain anonymous, Charlotte and Anne travel to London to explain. Along the way they encounter a mysterious governess who ends up being murdered in London in front of Charlotte. When Charlotte tries to explain to the police what strange things this governess had said before her demise, the police brush her off. When a strange package arrives, however, and the sisters are accosted on the train home, it's clear a larger mystery -- and international espionage -- is at work. Charlotte works with a member of the Foreign Office in the hopes of discovering the mastermind behind murders happening throughout England and a plot to tilt England's power in the world. But her family assists the story as well, allowing the reader to pick the minds of Anne, Emily and the suffering Branwell. Rowland cleverly uses real characters of the day in this what-if tale, including the prime minister and Queen Victoria. We also get to see Charlotte facing demons from her past and finding resolution, even though Charlotte may never had the chance.

Rowland fell in love with the novelist in med school, she writes on her Web site, and her story stayed with her even though med school did not. Rowland went on to write the best-selling San Ichiro mysteries set in Japan, but kept Charlotte close at hand. The book was several years in the making and the research used to bring it all together proves Rowland's meticulous attention to detail. What carries the book, however, is Charlotte and her strength, courage and desires. "What particularly stuck in my mind was the thought that no matter how much adventure she'd experienced, she always craved more," Rowland writes on her Web site. "She was the ultimate yearning, romantic, creative spirit."

Meet Robin Miller, a native of Shreveport, who writes under the pen name of Robin Caroll. Her Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspence bayou series takes place in the fictional town of Lagniappe, located in Vermilion parish. 

Bayou Justice, available now (An October TOP PICK from Romantic Times Magazine): Deep in the "boot" of Louisiana, Cajun Country, an alligator environmentalist, CoCo LeBlanc, finds a body in the bayou. A body that just happens to be the grandfather of her ex-boyfriend, Luc Trahan. When she and her family are prime suspects in the murder, CoCo pushes aside her personal problems with Luc to find the real killer. Among voodoo, multiple suspects, and a long-standing family vendetta, CoCo and Luc must work together to prove their innocence...before the real murderer reveals himself, and becomes a threat to them.

Bayou Corruption, available February 2008: When Alyssa LeBlanc is called back to Laginappe because of her ailing grandmother, she never expects to almost run over a near-dead body. Caught in the town she hates, she works to expose corrupt politicians, while racing to "scoop" rival reporter, Jackson Devereaux. When the two reporters's stories collide, Alyssa and Jackson join forces to expose the truth. Their newfound love is tested when they uncover a link to Alyssa's past, that could destroy her forever.

Robin Miller is the current president of the American Christian Fiction Writers.

Spring 2008 Releases

In the Gloaming: An Anthology of Faeries Stories, four romantic stories steeped in faerie lore, features work by Louisiana resident and erotic romance author Cora Zane, as well as Nita Wick, Kelley Heckart, Esmerelda Bishop, and K.M. Frontain. The book is available at www.freyasbower.com.

Carol Culver Rzadkiewicz of Lafayette has published her first novel, Mustang Summer, which is available at booksellers, and a serialized novel, Remembering Della, published online by Zine5. You can read about her at www.authorsden.com/carolcrzadkiewicz.

Sandra Hill doesn't hail from Louisiana but she loves Cajun country and includes our state in many of her best-selling romances. Past titles have included Tall, Dark and Cajun, The Red-Hot Cajun and The Cajun Cowboy, so you get the picture. Wild Jinx hits shelves in March (Grand Central, $6.99) and gives past character Tee-John LeDeux his own story, plus a recipe from Tante Lulu, another recurring character. I had to laugh at the spelling of Celine Arseneux and Hill's reader letter in the back admonishing herself for a past mistake. "Holy crawfish, who knew there were no big rocks in Southern Louisiana?" she writes. Still, if you like it hot, spicy and fun, check out Sandra Hill.

Shreveport author Shelia M. Goss has released her fourth novel, Double Platinum (Kensington, $6.99), which examines the volatile music industry through the eyes of heroine Parris Mitchell. Goss was honored as a Literary Diva: The Top 100 Most Admired African American Women in Literature. For information, visit her Web site at http://sheliagoss.com.

Tammy Riviere has published Figure 8 (Wings Press), a mystery involving a homicide detective in Baton Rouge trying to catch a serial killer while becoming involved with an investigative reporter who also happens to be the daughter of his superior.

Anita Bunkley is not from the Bayou State but she lives near bayous so that should count for something. I met Bunkley at the Louisiana Book Festival so I'm including the Houston resident too. She has two books out now, both Africa-American romances by Dafina: Between Goodbyes and Suite Embrace. For more information, visit www.anitabunkley.com.

Lewis C. Jarrell of New Iberia takes on a corrupt government in The Last Presidency? (Art Galleria), in which the principal character takes money from a foreign country to put a third national political party in the White House. As millions pour in to his pockets, the foreigners establish control and dismantle America’s democracy.

I find great information about Louisiana authors on the Internet. On http://kiamshacom.blogspot.com, I learned that author Ananda Kiamsha Madelyn Leeke has published Love's Troubadours -- Karma: Book One, which tells the story of Karma Francois, a thirtysomething California-born BoHo BAP (Bohemian Black American Princess) with Louisiana roots and urban debutante flair. The book was published by iUniverse, Inc. and is available through Amazon.com, Barnesandnobles.com, Borders.com, Target.com, and Bookamillion.com.

Elias Abrams possibly has two enemies at his heels -- the New Orleans law or a local gang -- after taking part in a crime as a member of the Cypress Stump Boys. Fleeing the harsh streets of 1861 New Orleans, he joins the Confederacy and ends up on the front lines in Missouri, which is as brutal as anything Gallatin Street could dish out. The young Jewish orphan keeps to himself, hoarding food he has scavenged near the camp and cheating at cards to acquire items he needs. He plans to forever keep to himself, a selfish loner, until a soldier, who teaches college back home, takes him under his wing.

And through the darkness of the horrors of war and the increasing guilt of the crime he helped commit comes a letter sent blindly from Nora Bloom of New Orleans. She writes to him as a member of a New Orleans synagogue, hoping "to offer comfort" for the cause that Abrams is fighting. The morale-boosting letter gives Abrams a new perspective on life and he immediately falls in love and forms an epistolary courtship. Whereas his old friend Silas Wolfe, a member of the gang, brings Abrams out of his misery after being orphaned, slicing him upside his head with an oyster shell, Nora reaches his heart with kindness and affection. As Abrams is transformed from both the war and Nora's love, he knows he must return to New Orleans to finally face his demons and such is the story of Landsman (Counterpoint, $24.95), the debut novel of Peter Charles Melman, who received his PhD from the University of Louisiana and spent many years in Lafayette.

Melman describes Landman as "an epic tale of love, brutality, and one man's quest for morality in an otherwise indifferent world, framed against the unique backdrop of the Jewish Confederacy and the raunchy underbelly of the Civil War New Orleans." The New York native decided to write the historical novel after discovering that 3,000 Jews fought in the Civil War. Landsman is the Yiddish term for "countryman" or a Jew who comes from the same district or town and, in some instances, landowner, which plays on Abrams' desire to own land. Melman's background in creative writing, devotion to classical American literature and his writing style that favors a former time period all helped create this remarkable novel, according to the novelist.

I'm always on the lookout for well-told Louisiana stories, but what I truly yearn for are books that capture the essence of our state, that go beyond the stereotypical and rehashed plots and unearth the truth that's uniquely ours. Usually, only a native can provide such a combination, and Louisiana's Elise Blackwell delivers such with her exceptional The Unnatural History of Cypress Parish (Unbridled Books, $23.95). The book follows the narration of 90-year-old Louis Proby as he watches Hurricane Katrina on its deadly approach to south Louisiana. But the book isn't about Katrina, but another manmade disaster centered around a natural one, that of the 1927 flood and the blowing up of the levees at St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes in an effort to save New Orleans from a cresting river. While Proby waits for the storm to hit, he reminisces upon his life growing up in a small town in Cypress Parish, a fictional place that could be a combination of St. Bernard and Plaquemines, where people live off the timber and trapping industries all the way to "the end of Louisiana and, many said, the end of the world," Blackwell writes.

Cypress Parish is a place of many cultures, class stratas and racial divides. Proby is a teen in 1927, whose father has worked his way up in the town's logging company to be superintendent of the town. His circle of acquaintances remains small until the logging director hires him as his chauffeur. Then Proby's field of vision enlarges to include the political underbelly of the parish and the bankers of New Orleans who sacrifice Proby's home to save their financial interests. As history has shown, the levees didn't need to be dynamited; levee failures upriver in areas such as Acadiana saved New Orleans. What Blackwell's novel shows is the destructive force of the city's few, men who controlled the newspapers as well, refusing to let them print stories of the nation's massive flooding by the Mississippi River.

The Unnatural History of Cypress Parish goes beyond the disaster to focus on the people surrounding Proby's life. We come to see firsthand who will be affected by the flooding and it hits home. So does the chapter where the parish residents are evacuated to a warehouse in New Orleans leaving behind pets and farm animals and one man stays in an effort to keep his animals safe and dies in the process. Money allocated to reimburse residents comes painfully slow and many move out of state or sign off on their land when the money comes too late. For those who do wait out the process, their compensation pales in what they were promised. It's so close to what happened in 2005, it's eerie. I work part-time in hurricane relief and hear folks in the Ninth Ward repeatedly claim that someone blew up the Industrial Canal levee in an effort to save the city. It never seemed logical to me until I read this book. I still don't believe it, but when you see how poor and expendable people are used over history, it suddenly becomes possible and all too real. The book has received tremendous acclaim so far, has been chosen as an April Book Sense pick and gone back to press for a second printing.

"We've had a tremendous response from booksellers in particular," said editor and co-publisher Fred Ramey. "This is a beautiful, haunting novel -- and timely."

Best-selling Mandeville author Hailey North offers a fun, sexy contemporary romance that's sure to please her fans as she returns to her quirky fictional town of Doolittle, Arkanas, in Not the Marrying Kind (Avon, $5.99). Smart but nerdy Harriet Smith goes to the prom with popular Jake Porter, where they experience a night of passion before he mysteriously disappears. Years later, and now a successful New York artist, Harriet decides to find Jake and inform him of a son he never knew he had. Before she does, however, she has to go home to take care of an ill family member. Jake is now a music executive in Los Angeles and he, too, must travel back to the old stomping grounds of Doolittle to meet his father's new paramour. The two high school lovers meet again -- although Harriet recognizes Jake and he misses the connection completely -- and sparks start flying once more. It will take more than passion to heal the wounds of the past, however, but in the end love does triumph. Like North's other smart and sexy novels, Not the Marrying Kind keeps readers wanting more all the way to the last page. It's a fun romp in a town that's as charming as the captivating love story.

Just when I thought I couldn't read another word about Katrina, New Iberia's James Lee Burke enters the scene with one of his finest books to date.

The Tin Roof Blowdown (Simon & Schuster, $26) continues the story of Burke's recurring private eye and sometimes lawman Dave Robicheaux as he battles rabid corruption and crime, eccentric police personalities and his ongoing battle with alcoholism in New Iberia. As in his previous books, Robicheaux has occasional dealings with the underworld of "the Big Sleazy," again facing street punks, drug lords and members of the mafia.
In the meantime, Robicheaux is searching for his old friend, Father Jude LeBlanc, a junkie who seeks redemption in his work in the Lower Ninth Ward, last seen aiding church members from the attic of a flooded Catholic church. His good friend Clete Purcel is hunting down two 23-year-olds who skipped bail who tie into the story, while two other men are held in the New Iberia jail that connect to both LeBlanc and the looters.

This time, however, Katrina adds a new perspective to Robicheaux's -- and no doubt, Burke's -- vision of the two-sided New Orleans, where dark criminal elements mix with the beauty and romanticism of America's Most Interesting City. After Katrina barrels through the Gulf Coast, a group of looters begin using neighborhoods as a buffet line. When four black men hit a high-end uptown street and discover a fortune in the walls of one of the homes, they encounter a host of problems that set the plot into motion: white supremacist vigilantes, a resident whose daughter was a victim to three of the looters and whose father wants revenge and a mafia leader as owner of the house they rip apart.

Since Robicheaux must assist New Orleans law enforcement agencies, he and Purcel find themselves in the devastated city and it's their perspectives on the hurricane, the government's abandonment and the following "piggy feet clattering to the trough" of out-of-state contractors that make Tin Roof Blowdown resonate with a heightened emotional frequency.

"It became obvious right after Katrina that the destruction of New Orleans was an ongoing national tragedy and probably an American watershed in the history of political cynicism," Robicheaux reflects. "I knew early on that the events taking place in New Orleans now would lay large claim on the rest of my career if not my life."

Even though Burke shows the unconscionable actions of the looters who have little regard for human life as well as property, he offers his readers a look into their origins in poverty, violence and neglect. When one of the looters works to repent for his sins, he finds little acceptance and death as an only option. Upper-class white men with guns looking upon their fellow black residents with blind disregard and hate rate no higher than the ones doing the crime.

Burke doesn't use a soapbox, nor does he offer simple explanations of the societal ills of New Orleans, yet he doesn't hold back on his views of deeply entrenched Louisiana racism and its result of poverty.

"The boarded-up windows, the junker cars, the wash lines, and the open drainage ditches full of trash were like photos taken by Walker Evans during the Great Depression, as though seven decades had not passed," Robicheaux thinks as he drives through a poor area of Iberia Parish. "Who was responsible? I have trouble with the notion of collective guilt. But if I had to lay it at anyone's feet, I'd start with the White League, the Knights of the White Camellia... and all the people who did everything in their power to keep their fellow human beings poor and uneducated and at one another's throats so they would remain a source of cheap labor."

I always find fault with Burke when he paints a solid dark picture of New Orleans in his Robicheaux novels, one that seems devoid of light. In Blowdown, however, he laments the death of a beautiful city with such insight that I shall forgive his past regressions, particularly when he blames years of poor federal funding and the introduction of crack cocaine into the projects as the beginning of the city's destruction, showing this time that the evil that lurks in the shadows has various degrees of darkness. In Blowdown, as in Katrina's New Orleans, those who are committing the crimes are not necessarily the ones in jail.