Diane Whiteside The River Devil

The River Devil

Diane Whiteside

Brava, Jul 2005, $14.00, 384 pp.

ISBN: 0758207948

In December 1871 in New York Nicholas Lennox will do anything including kill to insure he controls the wealth of Rosalind Schuyler though he plans to marry her first. A stipulation in her inheritance insists that if she marries in the next fifteen months she loses control of her money. To avoid that fate especially with the dangerous Nicholas, Rosalind flees west hoping to hide until she can claim her wealth without any proviso.

To hide in plain sight, Rosalind dresses like a man, but Nicholas seems to be closing in on her. At a poker game, she meets Mississippi-Missouri riverboat captain Hal Lindsey. She is attracted to him but fears revealing her gender; he knows that "he" is a she and he needs to learn why because he wants her too.

Diane Whiteside's latest devilish tale, THE RIVER DEVIL, is a terrific historical romance that stars two likable lead protagonists, a vile villain, and the rivers with their riverboats. The storyline cleverly meanders like the rivers that flow throughout the descriptive plot. However, the cast makes this a fine novel as readers will root for Nicholas and Rosalind (perfect name for a woman disguised as a man) and appreciate the return of the stars of THE IRISH DEVIL in a secondary role.

Harriet Klausner