Wild Orchids by Jude Deveraux
Pocket Books $101
Wild Orchids is a trashy but addictive romance-mystery story set in North Carolina. It's narrated by the two main characters, each speaking in the first-person. Recently widowed Ford Newcombe is a best-selling author who has run out of stories and is looking for inspiration. He finds it in research assistant Jackie Maxwell, who has just dumped her fiance at the altar. The pair go to live in a Victorian house, where they investigate a story about the devil Jackie heard when she was growing up. The nascent romance isn't convincing. Jackie is young, spunky and athletic. Ford is a middle-aged couch potato who eats junk food and wallows in self pity. And the story about the devil has a disappointing ending. But despite these flaws, Jude Deveraux has the undeniable knack of getting readers to turn pages.
