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Shadow Oaks is failing, and unless Stella
St. Valliers can find a way to change that quickly, two centuries of her family's history will be gone with the wind. That's why Stella has taken a leave of absence from her college teaching position to join her beloved great- aunt Rose in an all-out effort to save Shadow Oaks. Between hunting for a legendary, long-lost family treasure, researching new outlets for byproducts from the sugarcane crop, and trying to stop local drug runners from using her property, she hasn't much time to wonder why she and Rose (the only remaining members of a family that's
legendary for its passionate marriages), are both unwed -- and likely to remain so. Stella's efforts to save Shadow Oaks stir up trouble, passion, and peril; and when gunshots shatter the night, Stella offers wounded Garrett Shaw (the
sexy bouncer from the local strip joint,
who claims to be an undercover federal
marshal) sanctuary at Shadow Oaks. Still of the Night is an evocative novel full of
romantic tension, taut plotting, and rich bayou atmosphere.
Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Stella St. Vallier, the heroine of this lurid novel of romantic suspense, is part traditional Southern belle, part liberated feminist and all woman. She and her ancient great-aunt Rose are the last in a long line of strong, valiant St. Vallier women. Together with an elderly servant-cum-companion known as "Maman," they inhabit the ancestral plantation house, Shadow Oaks, and its declining sugarcane operation in Louisiana. Stella's efforts to save the plantation are complicated when she discovers a drug-smuggling operation on her property directed by P.G. Toutant, owner of the Scarlet Door, a sleazy strip club in Cane Town. Cane Town's sheriff, Jervis Archer, is worse than worthless, a slimy, rutting pig of a man. When Stella confronts Toutant, he has her thrown out of the club. Everyone Stella turns to, from the DEA to distant neighbor and U.S. Sen. Myron Leblanc, seems to be an enemy. Within Shadow Oaks lie hidden treasures and secret rooms. Within Stella lie the twin tensions of sexual violence and incipient romance, and she must navigate a tricky course to save herself and Shadow Oaks. McKinney has freighted her passionate story with many tired contrivances. Sometimes the clich s are overwhelming, but neither they nor the contrivances are likely to discourage readers who enjoy tales of strong women triumphing over bad men and finding true love. (Feb.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Stella St. Vallier, green-eyed and plucky, her nonagenarian great-aunt Rose, and old family retainer Maman are the last residents of Shadow Oaks, the near-bankrupt family plantation outside of Cane Town, Louisiana. While strolling the cane fields and musing one night, Stella observes P.G. Toutant, owner of the Scarlet Door strip club, and a corrupt local lawman's deputy unloading drugs from a small plane. Does her neighbor Senator Leblanc, she wonders, condone this sort of behavior? Stella calls him and then faces down Toutant in his bar, where both he and his bouncer, a handsome hunk named Cowboy (actually US Marshal Garrett Shaw doing undercover work), tell her to cool her hyperactive imagination—nothing's going on. Stella, however, is unconvinced, although all her throbbing, lovelorn instincts tell her to trust Cowboy, who's soon wounded by the bad guys. She hides him away in a secret room and staunchly stares down the evil Sheriff Jervis when he comes calling. But Stella hasn't heard the last of the forces of evil. She'll have to deal with a weeping ghostly spirit, the truth about her parents'"accident," an attempt to burn down the plantation, and a drugging before she and the marshal can plan a future together. Romantic-suspense veteran McKinney (In the Dark, 1998, etc.) ladles on the romance but forgets the suspense, producing patchwork intrigue whose ending is never in doubt.
