"New Orleans bad-boy cop and sedate school psychologist."

New Orleans cop Creole Levalois is determined to find his brother's murderer, even if he has to work outside the law to do it. His only lead is the girlfriend of one of the flunkies of the man responsible. So he rents the apartment across from Muse Summerville, where he can keep an eye on her, casually meet her, and watch for her sleazy boyfriend to show up. Only problem is, Muse isn't acting like he expected -- this party-hearty girl who normally spends every night drinking and dancing on Bourbon Street suddenly is staying home and NOT with the boyfriend.

Grace Summerville is worried about her twin sister, Muse. Even though they lead different lives -- Grace is a sedate and serious school psychologist, Muse is the irresponsible and irrepressible "live for the moment" type -- they are very attached to each other. Muse sounded worried during their last phone call, mentioned that she thought someone was following her around. Now she has disappeared, and Grace is masquerading as Muse to find out what happened.

Ms. Bruhns has redefined and reanimated some stock characters. My first thought as I got into this book was "Oh no, not another bad-boy cop conducting his own investigation; not another twin-switch plot." But I was delighted to find that the characters in this story did not act in the cliched manner. Grace behaved more logically and intelligently than I anticipated, not carrying the pretense of being her twin too far. And Creole became more and more fascinating as his childhood trauma and his connection to his foster brother were slowly revealed. Creole is not at all the warm and supportive and comfortable type of man that Grace always thought she wanted, but she can't resist his vulnerability and the tenderness and goodness she recognizes deep inside him. Their relationship is tense and hot from the moment they meet across their balconies, and the sexual tension gets tighter and tighter as they tease and frustrate each other. The unexpected twists and revelations that occur as they search for Muse keep the plot active and interesting. But it is the delicious and very, very satisfying ending that put this book on my keeper shelf.

Reviewed by Raelene Gorlinsky
Posted May 1, 2002

Muse Summerville's file says the sultry blonde is hot as the Louisiana summer and has a penchant for men--the more dangerous the better. But to Detective Creole Levalois's cop instincts, something about her doesn't quite add up.....

Summary

He wanted revenge

Auri 'Creole' Levalois was looking for a killer. What he found was a woman who turned his lonely world upside down-and touched him as no other woman ever had. Determined to put his foster-brother's murderer behind bars, Creole has set up surveillance on witness Muse Summerville. Her file says the sultry blonde is hot as the Louisiana summer and has a penchant for men-the more dangerous the better. But to Creole's cop instincts, something about her didn't quite add up.

And she wanted nothing to do with him!

Grace Summerville's identical twin sister has vanished without a trace. Grace has rushed to New Orleans' notorious French Quarter to search for her. Grace is really worried. Especially when she discovers a dark, mysterious Cajun man watching her from the neighboring balcony-watching her with the feral interest of a predator. Is he somehow involved in her twin's disappearance? Or is he after something much more dangerous to a good girl like her?