Just after dawn, Caren walks the grounds of Belle Vie, the historic plantation house in Louisiana that she has managed for four years. Today she sees nothing unusual, apart from some ground that has been dug up by the fence bordering the sugar can fields. Assuming an animal has been out after dark, she asks the gardener to tidy it up. Not long afterwards, he calls her to say it's something else. Something terrible. A dead body. At a distance, she missed her. The girl, the dirt and the blood. Now she has police on site, an investigation in progress, and a member of staff no one can track down. And Caren keeps uncovering things she will wish she didn't know. As she's drawn into the dead girl's story, she makes shattering discoveries about the future of Belle Vie, the secrets of its past, and sees, more clearly than ever, that Belle Vie, its beauty, is not to be trusted."
Overall I enjoyed the story- the history and the secrets hidden in the cane fields and on the plantation; the racial tension felt authentic-- not melodramatic or over-done but also not ignored; the creepy historic slave cabins and their possible haunting. It is a well crafted book- everything woven together nicely.
Caren is not very likeable at the beginning, but she grew on me. I found the story slowly compelling, it took time to get there, but once it did, I didn't want to put it down until I was done. There were certain things that bothered me, such as half the dialogue is not safely contained in quotation marks, but it wasn't confusing. I thought the complications with Caren's ex were a bit convoluted and contrived, but the end was satisfying and the resolution was fine.
I probably won't read it again, but it was enjoyable for a random pick-up from the library's new books shelf.
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