The Scent of Jasmine
Jude Deveraux
Pocket, Dec 28 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780743479028
In 1799, Virginia artist Catherine Edilean Harcourt has a lot of potential suitors, but she has no interest in marrying any of them. She visits her ailing godfather T.C. Connor in Charleston who because of a broken leg that keeps him from getting around asks adventurous Catherine to deliver a packhorse for him. Dressed for a ball she will attend after her good deed, Catherine goes to give the steed to escaped convict Alexander McDowell, who just broke out of prison.
However, the drop off fails to go according to plan as hunters chase stalk Alex who takes Cay with him while fleeing south to the Everglades. There she pretends to be a young male nature artist while Alex sets out to prove he never murdered his wife. Trying to rescue their assumed kidnapped as a hostage sister, Cay’s three raging brothers follow their trail.
The latest Edilean historical romance (see Lavender Morning and Days of Gold) is a wonderful late eighteenth century tale starring two warm lead protagonists. The Everglades is a terrific setting as the artist thrives while the convict worries about his “prisoner” who has turned his heart into her hostage. Readers will relish the return to Edilean; in which ironically that setting hardly appears.
Harriet Klausner
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