Bayou Moon

A Louisiana mystery, it has ghosts, a southern mansion, stormy weather, and lots of little surprises. The author's writing style is lovely and elegant.

Plan on starting this book early in the evening. Once started, it's hard to put it down until you've finished it! Bayou Moon has all the best ingredients -touches of voodoo; seances; Southern customs, crimes and culture; dirty politicians; colorful characters and a heroine and protagonist who sizzle. Solving Migon Thibeaux's mystery of what happened to her mother and her mother's lover produces a wonderfully twisted plot. I enjoyed trying to discover "who done it" and was continually surprised to find who the bad guys and the good guys really were! This is a good read! I look forward to Bevill's next novel.

Lovers who have been missing for twenty-five years, the children and a wife they left behind, corrupt politicians and policemen, voodoo and a southern mansion with a ghost. What else do you need to make a great novel - plot, interesting characters (gorgeous guy!), a bit of a twist? Bayou Moon has it all. A fantastic blend of authentic, small-town, Louisiana culture and sordid crime. Highly recommend! A great first novel from an author I'm sure we'll be hearing from again.

It is common knowledge that Luc St. Michael and Garlande Thibeaux left their spouses and children and ran off together. Twenty-five years later Garlande's daughter, Mignon, a famous painter, returns to St. Germaine Parish in northwestern Louisiana to find the answers that has eluded her all her life. She is a beautiful woman; the exact image of her mother and her return has shaken up many influential people in the town.Mignon's plan is working because she believes there are people in town who knows exactly what happened to Luc and Garlande. She needs to shake it out of them using Eleanor St. Michael's interest in the spirit world to do so. Already subtle threats have been made against her but Mignon intends to find justice for those falsely maligned no matter who pays the price.This is C.L. Bevill's first novel but it won't be this extraordinary new talent's last. She has written a modern Gothic mystery complete with séances, ghosts, fogs and storms. There are a number of ways this story can be played out so readers have to pay attention to each and ever clue, no matter how small, if they want to understand what is really going on. Bayou Moon is a first class reading experience.Harriet Klausner