Something Very Wild-Mary Zelinsky

Something Very Wild
Mary Zelinsky
Five Star, Nov 2008, $25.95
ISBN: 1594147191

Family matriarch Clotilde Galen is outraged by her daughter Chloe’s latest college scandal in which she was tossed from the University of Mississippi, her third expulsion. Clotilde informs her wild child no more. She will pay tuition at a local art school, but Chloe will live on her own with no other help. Sunned Chloe’s friend Sara allows her to move into her dump of an apartment and she obtains work at La Bella Gallery owned by a friend of her late father.

At the same time, Atlanta based FBI agent Aaron Porter comes home to New Orleans to work on art fraud. The evidence points towards La Bella Gallery. When he meets Chloe, they are instantly attracted to one another, but he hides his law enforcement undercover role from her and she conceals her family wealth from him. They assume the other is a poor student. As they fall in love, the case turns deadly.

The second Galen New Orleans Legacy romantic suspense thriller (see SOMETHING VERY WICKED starring Chloe’s oldest brother) is an enjoyable police procedural cozy with an emphasis on the romance. The story line contains a few delightful spins although the art mystery is secondary, as it is the lead couple and their relationships with each other and with family members that make for a something very fine tale.

Harriet Klausner