Review: On This Night
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 29, 2014
Mallory has lost everything.  Her mother died when Mallory was young, her father died from illness during the recent Civil War, and her brother died serving in the Confederate Army.  Yankees even burned her family's plantation to the ground, forcing Mallory to move in with the family living in Grace Hall, the next closest plantation.  Grace Hall houses Logan, Mallory's fiance, Brooke, Logan's sister, and Corinne, Logan and Brooke's step mother.  Another family, Boyce and Henrietta, and their grown son Henry, also live at Grace Hall.  The house is also home to Tipper and Deke, the only former slaves that have remained.Not long after the Civil War ends, a Union soldier, a deserter, comes to the plantation and tries to rape Tipper.  In order to save Tipper, Mallory shoots the  soldier. Mallory, Tipper, and Deke bury the soldier, and tell no one of their secret.Five months later, three Union soldiers come to Grace Hall, hunting for the missing soldier, who apparently had been carrying $50,000. One of the soldiers is Stuart Wakefield, who just so happens to be Logan and Brooke's cousin from Philadelphia.  Stuart and Mallory met several years prior, and had formed an instant attachment.  But Mallory is now engaged to Logan, and besides- she can't fall in love with and marry a Northener, can she?Meanwhile, things start to go haywire at Grace Hall.  Tipper is found murdered, but why? Is there any connection between Tipper's murder and the soldier they killed months ago?  Soon the muderer is after Mallory, and she and Stuart must discover the identity of the murderer before anyone else gets killed.This novel was such an engaging page turner.  The first ten to fifteen percent or so was a little boring, and I almost stopped reading it, but I'm glad I didn't. Once Tipper was found murdered, the book took off from there.  I literally could not put it down.  The entire novel takes place in one night, and I truly felt like I was there, in a big old Southern house, with only a few candles and lamps to cast creepy shadows on the wall.  Just enough suspense to give you a bit of goosebumps, but nothing morbid.  Such a great read!  Highly recommended!