You did it! We figured this one out! It is a truth universally acknowledged (by me for certain) that the Bitchery pretty much knows everything, and really, it's true. Scroll down to see the solution for this HaBO - and many thanks!
Bitchery Reader PattiR says:
Since I suffer from C.R.S.S. (Can’t Remember Shit Syndrome) I am asking you Bitches for help.
I have seen how amazing you all are at this, so I am really hoping you can help me out. It’s driving me crazy that I cannot remember this book. I have no idea how many years ago I read it, (at a guess, I’d say 20 years) and I can’t remember anything but the basic story line. And I mean basic.
I know, not much to go on, but if you can just help me get that much closer to figuring it out, I would be thankful.
Well, here goes:
I think this book takes place in the Turn of the Century American South. I really want to say Louisiana, but I am not positive.
There is a (Gypsy??) prophesy about a light and a dark child, and how one will destroy the other.
The Villain of the story is a fair haired man, married/engaged to/dating the Heroine, and he is in politics of some kind. He also abuses/beats the Heroine.
The Heroine is trying to figure out her life/try and get out of her abusive relationship, and along comes this very handsome, dark haired man (the Hero).
He helps her out, in what way I have no idea (I told you I read this a really long time ago). I think he tries to help her get out of the abusive relationship she is in.
Really not sure about the middle of the story, but at the end, Villain and Hero get into a big fight at a really big house, a party was going on or was about to go on and I think the Hero shoots the Villain. That is about all I can remember. Pitiful, huh?
Sound like anything any of you have read?? Can anyone help this Bitch out?
The fair villain and the dark hero? Is it Othello in turn-of-the-century Louisiana?
This sounds something like The Matchmaker by Kay Hooper (Bantam, May ‘91). The hero is Cyrus Fortune, the heroine, Julia Drummond. It takes place in Richmond, VA around 1900. Fortune appeared in several of Hooper’s Loveswept books, especially in the “fairy tale” ones as a “matchmaker.”
This is his story.
Kay
The Wanton by Rosemary Rogers? I’m guessing not, since you made no mention of the hero being a bit of an ass-hat.
I was going to say the Matchmaker, too… i haven’t read it in a while though.
It sounds vaguely like Dinah McCall’s “Dreamcatcher”, although that’s modern-day. But there’s an abusive husband who’s in politics, and a handsome dark (part Indian) detective who’s trying to protect the heroine.
I think Kay nailed it. THANK YOU! I have been wondering about this book for years (sad, I know).
If it came out in 1991, then I guess it wasn’t quite 20 years ago that I had read this book, just 16. 🙂
Now I only need to get my hands on a copy and read it to be sure.
Thank you Ladies. I knew someone would be able to help me. The Bitchery always comes through!
One of the very few I have known. Darn. Good guessing Kay.
Thank you PattiR and melissa. Kay Hooper is one of my favorites. I purchase this book and have read it several times. The fantasy aspects appealed to me as much as the mystery and the romance.
Kay