A PROMISE TO DIE FOR

An art investigation turns into a dangerous personal quest for a woman resolved to fulfill a deathbed promise to her grandmother even after being disinherited by her family.

Though she was born to a life of instability with a drifter for a mother, Evangeline Raines was reunited with her grandmother Delacroix-Ravel and the fortune associated with the family name, even if her other relatives never accepted her as part of the family. It didn’t matter to Evangeline, whose close relationship with her eccentric, Hoodoo-practicing adoptive aunt Olinda supplied the warmth otherwise missing from her childhood. But Evangeline was able to grow close to her grandmother over time and promised her that she’d unearth the art collection the family lost in World War II. In the wake of her grandmother’s death and her own divorce, Evangeline’s determination to make good on her promise should be eased by her occupation as an agent for Rembrandt Art Investigations. The harder she looks for the missing artworks, the more she begins to suspect there may be danger afoot in her search, especially when her professional connections start to turn up dead. Perhaps she’ll get some help from her newly adopted dog, Zelda, a police reject who—according to Sgt. Arlo Strecker, her former owner—has too much of a mind of her own and a seeming understanding of English to be cut out for police work. Maybe a little supernatural help, together with some mischief from Aunt Olinda, will keep Evangeline safe during her quest.

The predictability of this follow-up to Under the Rose 2003) doesn’t detract from the charmingly drawn characters, with extra plot complications thrown in for good measure.