Bayou Requiem

In the sweltering, magnolia-scented twilight of coastal St. Landry Parish, the marriage of political scion Julian Delacroix and heiress Vivienne Ardoin is a cathedral of shared ambition built on a swamp of secrets. To the cameras, they are the perfect union of two dynastic families. Behind the iron gates of their estate, Anthemion, a silent war is waged with hidden microphones, encrypted files, and poisoned cordial glasses. When Vivienne, desperate to signal her captivity, files for a vanity plate bearing a cryptic cry for help, the state's refusal ignites a scandal neither of them anticipated. James Lee Burke's world of Gothic decay and unflinching moral reckoning frames a story where no prayer can halt the grinding of fate.