Rating: 
Summary: Romance and Mystery Combined
Review: Quickly becoming known for her intelligent historical romances, Ms. Proctor's most recent endeavor scintillates with forbidden romance and mysterious intrigue. The summer of 1862 in occupied New Orleans is fraught with conflict as Yankee General Benjamin Butler appropriates housing and incurs the disdain of the people of New Orleans. Widow Emmanuelle de Beauvais decides to visit her parents' grave along with Henri Santerre, a doctor at the hospital where she works. When a silver-tipped arrow kills him, the murder draws the attention of Union Major Zachary Cooper , Provost Marshal. While initially drawn to the beautiful widow, Zach comes to admire her for her bravery and intellect as she continues on at the hospital despite the fact her knowledge and practice of medicine is scowled upon by members of her class. As murders mount, and Emmanuelle appears to be the prime suspect, Zach falls helplessly under her spell. But will she be the next victim, or is she really a consummate actress and murderer? Ms. Proctor has craftily combined suspenseful murder mystery with electrically charged romance. While the Civil War era has been explored by many an author, Ms. Proctor deviates from the use of the southern belle heroine to focus on a stalwart, intelligent woman. And she doesn't sugarcoat the unconventional behavior of some of the characters, thus creating believability that further enhances this read. Ms. Proctor is a truly gifted writer whose books will sell based on the name of the author, alone.
Rating: 
Summary: Where did the author's ethics go?
Review: The book is well written and the story is involving. My problem with the book is the author's attempt to rationalize slavery. Although her heroine is against slavery and owns no slaves, she supports the confederacy based on the rationalization that treatment of industrial workers in the north is so terrible. While the northern workers certainly had terrible lives, unlike slaves, they were not owned by their employers; they were not held to their employers by law and chased down with dogs and guns if they tried to leave. Given the author's previous books which showed such empathy and depth of support for the convict-workers in Australia, I was very disturbed by her point of view in this book. It took away from my enjoyment of the book and made me wonder whether I will be able to read her next book with any degree of comfort.
Rating:
Summary: Good enough
Review: The story started out a little dull for me, partly because I just finished a different book and was waiting for something exciting to happen. The plot was interesting enough: a murder mystery during the Civil War, and both the main characters were likable. However I wish that the author wrote about Zach with more feeling, like showing what was he thinking more, especially in the middle, when all it seems like he's doing is questioning suspects over and over. Also I don't really understand how he and Emmanuelle fell in love. In the first 'foreplay' scene, it seems that all of a sudden they were attracted to each otherout of nowhere! Usually I become emotionally attached to the characters, but I didn't for Zach and Emmanuelle. Still, overall the book was entertaining and around the middle of the book I couldn't put it down!
Rating: 
Summary: A good read
Review: This was my first Candice Proctor book and I was pleasantly surprised. However, I wish she would have concentrated more on their romance than who killed who. Before I knew it, he was in love with her and he was much too understanding about the constant lying she did to him. There was a lot of beating around the bush when he was trying to get to the bottom of the murders also. Nobody would give him a straight answer and again, I thought he was much too understanding for being a provost marshal. But the story was good and I'm looking forward to reading more of her books.
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