Thursday, May 27, 2010

Hot Southern Nights-Dianne Castell

Hot Southern Nights
Dianne Castell
Kensington Brava, May 2010, $14.00
ISBN: 9780758223630

Librarian Churchill McKenzie is run out of New Jersey after her classic 1956 Chevy Bel Air was stolen as no one who does not want to float face down the Hudson questions the mob. She returns to her hometown of Savannah where she obtains a library position.

After three years in prison Cal Davis is free. He comes home to Savannah where he plans to avoid his former girlfriend Ace, whose testimony sent him to jail for a crime he did not do.

Cal’s grandmother Miss Ellie is the only person besides him who believes he never committed that crime. Cal finds a key inside his vintage 1967 Mustang that apparently someone wants bad enough to steal. When he hooks up with Ace who was run out of Jersey, all hell breaks loose in Georgia as he still wants her, but Churchill as she insists he call her begins to believe her beloved bad boy make that man did not do the felonious deed and wants to make amends while that unknown somebody raises the already heat of Hot Southern Nights..

The third “Hot” Savannah tale (see Hot And Bothered and Hot And Irresistible) uses humor mostly brought by battling Churchill to bring freshness to what is a heated yet somewhat conventional story line. Readers will root for the Steel Peachtree Ace as she remains feisty, fiery and fighting in spite of the mob kicking her out of the Garden State. She and Miss Ellie as a powerful amateur sleuth team set out to prove Cal is innocent and to uncover who is behind his conviction and bidding for the key (you will have to read to what).

Harriet Klausner

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