For almost two centuries, the proud St. Valliers have inhabited Shadow Oaks, the once elegant Cane Town plantation. Now only two descendants remain amidst the peeling paint and faded draperies: thirty-something college professor Stella and her elderly aunt, Rose -- both of them spinsters, both obvious contradictions to the family tradition of being lucky in love.Aware that time is running out for the rundown sugar cane plantation tucked into an all-but-forgotten corner of Lafourche Parish, Stella is convinced that the key to Shadow Oaks' future lies within the old walls of the house itself. Pirate ancestors supposedly concealed a treasure in the vicinity of a secret room. But her search is swiftly disrupted by obstacles she never could have foreseen: A shocking crime in the bayou. Whispers about a local conspiracy with links to high-reaching government officials. Gunshots in the night -- and a wounded stranger collapsing on Stella's property.

ISBN: 9781575666150