Ghost Moon by Karen Robards

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Robards, Romance, and Riveting

Romantic suspense writer Karen Robards has been steadily building her readership by penning such delights as Hunter's Moon and The Senator's Wife, both of which became national bestsellers. Robards continues this lofty trend with her latest tale of love, hate, and dark family secrets: Ghost Moon.

Olivia Morrison is the prodigal daughter returned. She was only six when her mother died, leaving her to be raised by a stepfamily, the affluent and well-respected Archers. Growing up on LaAngelle Plantation -- a lavish estate in northern Louisiana -- and leading a life of privilege did little to quell Olivia's wild urges as a teenager.

After a promiscuous and rebellious few years, she ignored the advice of her adoptive family and ran off at the age of 17 to marry a charismatic rodeo rider. Now, nine years later, divorced and struggling financially to raise her eight-year-old daughter, Sara, Olivia has been summoned back to her childhood home by her beloved step-aunt, Callie, who has been diagnosed with a deadly form of cancer.

Though Olivia is prepared for a less than exuberant welcome, she isn't prepared for the reaction she gets when she first arrives at the estate. The Archer patriarch, John, takes one look at her and collapses with a heart attack. From this less-than-auspicious beginning, Olivia's visit quickly becomes even more complicated.

There's Seth, her older step-cousin, who was once like a brother to her but now triggers an unexpected passion. There's Seth's fiancée, Mallory, a cool, slender, professional woman who is busy planning the wedding, which is mere weeks away. Then there's Seth's daughter from his first marriage, eight-year-old Chloe, whose temper tantrums and hysterics have everyone on edge. Rounding things out are a host of aunts, uncles, and cousins who all trip in and out of the stately old house, making for an eclectic extended family.

As John Archer lingers near death, Callie's condition rapidly deteriorates, and Seth's marriage date draws ever nearer, Olivia's emotions are further taxed by a recurring nightmare centered around her mother's drowning death years before. Several times Olivia is awakened in the middle of the night, only to smell the lingering traces of her mother's perfume. As time goes by, Olivia begins to suspect there is much more to her mother's death than she remembers. What Olivia doesn't know is that her return to LaAngelle Plantation has resurrected a dark and deadly family secret, one that can provide the answers Olivia seeks but at a horribly high price -- namely, the lives of her and Sara.

Robards's fans will be pleased to find her usual steamy passion and taut sexual tension. As a bonus, Robards has clearly mastered the art of other tensions as well, resulting in a harrowing tale of romantic suspense that explores both the dark and the bright sides of life.

—Beth Amos

From the Publisher

Nine years after leaving in disgrace, Olivia Morrison is coming home again with her eight-year-old, Sara, to put things right with the Archer clan. But there is no welcome for the prodigal daughter at the lavish Louisiana estate.

Her stepcousin, Seth, once her only comfort, is icy, dangerously attractive — and engaged. Her formidable stepgrandfather collapses with a heart attack at the sight of her, gasping her dead mother’s name: “Selena!”

The bayou echoes with memories of her mother’s mysterious death. Suicide by drowning, they said. But Olivia’s terrifying nightmares suggest another story. She is determined to learn the truth, and to face a newly ignited passion for Seth, who is too close for comfort, despite his vows.

When a new danger threatens her and her daughter, Olivia must find the courage to confront her old demons ... and uncover a shocking secret buried in the long-forgotten past....

Publishers Weekly

The fainthearted should be warned: Robards (The Midnight Hour) has crafted a mossy modern gothic drenched in gore. In northern Louisiana, little girls die at the hands of a twisted villain, and the author's detached style makes the killings' gruesomeness especially hard to take. The psychotic murderer has kidnapped four girls over the course of a decade, and he's ready to strike again. Will the next victim be eight-year-old Sara, weight-conscious daughter of broke, divorced Olivia Morrison? Or will it be eight-year-old Chloe, glamorous offspring of single dad Seth Archer, Olivia's stepcousin? Livvy and Seth remain blissfully ignorant of lurking danger, consumed with the welter of contradictory emotions kicked up by the ongoing drama in their family. Raised by her stepfamily, the wealthy Archer clan, Livvy left La Angelle Plantation nine years ago to become the teen bride of a no-good cowboy. She has just returned to the Louisiana estate, humbled by her greatly reduced circumstances and with daughter Sara in tow. Though she is welcomed back, Livvy is haunted by shadowy, frightening nightmares and the mystery surrounding her mother's death almost 20 years ago. Robards conveys the dusty heat of the Louisiana summer, and has an ear for the nuances of dialogue. But the cast of characters is so big, and the dramatics so unrelenting, that readers never have a chance to fully absorb the dynamics of the clan, and the serial killings remain an unintegrated subplot till the very end. When the bogeyman makes a move close to home, and Livvy and Seth get romantically involved, the murder mystery and the love story finally, satisfyingly, converge. (Feb.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

When Olivia Morrison ran away from her stepfather and the Archer estate in Louisiana, she thought she was leaving her mother's suicide behind her. Nearly a decade later, Olivia returns home with nothing but her eight-year-old daughter. Her arrival ignites a chain of events that she couldn't have foreseen, including her rekindled attraction to Seth Archer, her stepcousin. But beneath still waters lies a dangerous secret that is revealed to Olivia only in her dreams. And for someone, those dreams are revealing more than may be healthy for Olivia and her family. Dean Robertson reads competently but without spark; she has a variety of Southern drawls at her disposal but never captures the energy and suspense within the story. The author's popularity makes this a necessary purchase for large public libraries, but it is not Robards at her best. Jodi L. Israel, MLS, Jamaica Plain, MA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

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