Louisiana Bayou - Present Day

Louisiana is well known for its Cajun country, not only for the cooking, but the beautiful, yet eerie bayous, swamps, and alligators. This is the land where voodoo was, and still is practiced. This is CoCo LeBlanc’s heritage. She and her sister, Tara, have lived with Grandmere since their parents where killed in a car accident. Because of her love for the bayous and alligators, CoCo went to college and became an alligator environmentalist. Now that she has a grant from the Wetland Preservation Center, she is committed to bringing changes to save her beloved alligators and the bayous. But all is not as it should be. Luc Tehran was CoCo’s fiancé; he was handsome, kind, and very rich. But, because Luc is a practicing Christian and CoCo’s grandmother a voodoo high priestess who was teaching Tara the craft of voodoo, Luc ended their relationship two years ago. Even though CoCo still loves him, she knows it is not meant to be.

On a hot July day, CoCo is doing her daily rounds in the swamp when she interrupts two of her tagged alligators fighting over a body. Not just a body, but the body of Beau Tehran, Luc’s grandfather. Did the alligators kill him, or was he murdered and dumped so CoCo would be accused of murdering him? Did poachers kill him? Or did CoCo’s Grandmere put a voodoo spell on the old coot? CoCo and Luc meet to discuss who could have killed Beau Tehran; the sheriff, it seems, thinks that everyone is a suspect. Old Beau Tehran has made plenty of enemies, but the attraction between CoCo and Luc is still there, and this makes their meetings extremely awkward. Grandmere is happy the old coot is dead, because it just so happens that very day, he had served Grandmere with eviction papers on the old family plantation. Can CoCo and Luc figure out why this came about? But Luc himself had a run-in with his feisty grandfather -- could he have killed him and dumped the body in the bayou?

Robin Caroll has written a suspense-filled thriller with a big splash of romance thrown in. CoCo is not an everyday heroine, yet the author shows the grace that CoCo has learned since becoming a Christian, especially in dealing with those difficult questions about why God lets bad things happen. The pages don’t stop turning as Coco and Luc reconcile their relationship and work on solving the murder. The secondary characters are marvelous, from Grandmere to Tara, CoCo’s sister; Luc’s alcoholic mother, and his frail yet brave sister, Felicia. But let us not forget the biggest star of the story, the Louisiana Bayou. BAYOU JUSTICE is a riveting read. I highly recommend this book

Robin Caroll will be releasing more of her Bayou inspired books in 2008, so stay tuned; this author delivers the goods.

Deborah C Jackson