What Remains
This novel shows readers a dark side of plantation life in post-Civil War Louisiana. With characters that are good, bad, or somewhere in the middle, it’s never quite known what the outcome will be. At Belle Hombre, Isabelle Ross is a young woman who waited for her beau, Forest Brodie, to return from the war alive, only to be given the task of sitting with his body in the parlor. Without concern for her mourning, the overseer, Samson, enters and demands information on Isabelle’s Aunt Delora’s treasures, which are supposedly hidden somewhere on the plantation. When one of the servants has been found dead, apparently of a drunken fall downstairs, suspicions grow.
A reporter, Paul Delahoussaye, has been traveling across the South and interviewing former soldiers when one of his interviewees gives him Forest’s letters. Intrigued by Isabelle’s touching writings, he brings them to the plantation to give them back. Instead, he finds himself helping Isabelle discover the truth of Belle Hombre and falls a bit in love with her. Poole-Carter’s dark writing is sure to please fans of Old South mysteries and plantation scandals.
