cover image Shiveree

Shiveree

Sophie Dunbar. Intrigue Press, $22.95 (320pp) ISBN 978-1-890768-11-9

New Orleans provides the setting for Dunbars opulent excursion into culinary and sartorial excesses. Amateur sleuth Claire Claiborne (Behind Eclaires Doors, etc.) deals with crisis after crisis during the 12 days of prenuptial events that precede the Christmas Eve wedding of her best friend, Charlotte Dalton, and her husbands law partner, Foley Callant. Both sides of Charlottes Southern family, which is bitterly divided into so-called Swamp Daltons and Society Daltons, descend on New Orleans for the event. Their long-standing feud provides for some volatile moments of friction, but the intrigue really begins when Foleys aggressive and beautiful ex-wife, Belinda, crashes the party with her forlorn lover, Native American artist Sam Stormshadow. Masterful art dealer Belindas crass comments and beautiful looks wreak havoc among the brides family, as do aspiring artist Fawn Goldfeathers attempts to get the powerful womans attention. Though the murder comes late in the book and suspense is lacking, Dunbars piquant characters and gossipy descriptions of extravagant mixers, lingerie showers and bridesmaids luncheons establish a colorful and broadly funny background for the plot. (May)