From Publishers Weekly
Veteran paperback romance writer Blake, whose first hardcover was Love and Smoke , mines cliches familiar to the genre in her newest romantic mystery, set in the Louisiana bayous and the Hollywood film world. Directing Swamp Kingdom , her first major film, Julie Bullard hires enigmatic Rey Tabary to serve as technical consultant. Impressed by his knowledge of the swamps and Cajun life, Julie is strongly attracted to Rey despite the fact that she is engaged to the film's producer, Allen Gravesend. After several deaths occur among the movie's crew, Allen brings in Julie's father, famous director Bull Bullard, to take over the production. Not only does Julie have a contentious relationship with Bull, but she suspects the movie has become a cover for the drug trade. Rey, a former agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration, becomes the only person who can save her film. Blake's fans will undoubtedly enjoy the sultry, atmospheric background for this unsurprising but competent tale.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Blake's romances, now arriving in hardcover, may lack the total eye-blinding glitter of some of the top soapsters, but other Queens of Romance might take note of the impressive control of her popcorn plots, knowledgeable settings, and placement of pant-and- pash interludes. Here, as in Love and Smoke (1989), the setting is contemporary Louisiana, where an ambitious young female director attempts to finish a film amid murders, danger--and romance. ``Swamp Kingdom'' is the working title of the film that Julie Bullard--only child of the famous auteur ``Bull'' Bullard--is directing. Determined to be accurate in all regional detail, Julie signs on a disturbing Cajun, Rey Tabary, to be ``technical director.'' Although Julie has a stuffy L.A. lover of long standing, she's soon making waves in the bayou with Rey--``a creature of the night and the swamp, splendid, untamed.'' (Rey, out of the water, however, is an enormous help in all the horrors about to happen--and, besides, he's rich.) Suddenly, there are two murders and attempts on the lives of an unhappy child actress and Julie herself. Then Bull barges in. Will he take over Julie's film, the film someone has been sabotaging? Blake has lined up a solid group of suspects, both actors and film crew, and there's a swell slog at the close through mud and water as Julie struggles with the villain. Reliable romantic suspense for the loyal Blake audience. --
Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
