Her past haunts her future in a well-told story

books:


	• Whispers of the Bayou Mindy Starns Clark Harvest House Publishers, 2008 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 20 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Christian suspense at its finest...

Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for [...]
There was an air of mystery from the first page of Mindy Starns Clark's latest book, Whispers of the Bayou. A man showed up unexpectedly, asking Miranda Miller to restore an old painting that was obviously worthless. A bell containing a cross had been painted at a later date. Two men assault her in an alley. The mystery all relates to the symbol of a bell containing a cross. There was a tattoo on her head, hidden by her long thick hair; again, it is the symbol of a cross within a bell. Miranda was born in Louisiana and lived there until she was five-years-old. After her mother's death, she went to live with her Aunt Janet. After twenty-five years, it was time to learn the family secrets. A dying man requested her presence in Louisiana; he claimed to have a secret he can only tell her. What she did not know may kill her.
Mindy Starns Clark is a master at suspense. Her novels are clean and wholesome, but do not lose their sense of mystery. Too many novelists depend on sordid details and gutter language to carry the book. Clark does not have to fall on these tactics! In Whispers of the Bayou, she creates a plot that takes the reader to Cajun country. Whispers of the Bayou's is not your run-of-the-mill fiction. Clark combines a great murder mystery with interesting characters to make readers want to continue reading. I could not put this book down and read it in one sitting.

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Her past haunts her future in a well-told story

Miranda Miller hasn't seen her childhood home in the Louisiana bayou country since she was sent to live with her aunt in New York at the age of five. Her history is completely unknown to her and her remembrance of her early years is non-existent. It's as if she didn't exist for the first five years of her life.

Miranda currently lives in New York with her husband and five-year-old daughter. She's passionate about her career in a Manhattan museum, but is stumbling along in her marriage. Her husband mourns her aloof nature, and Miranda is unable to break down the protective walls. She chalks it up to a personality trait. But in the recesses of her mind, she knows her behavior has other origins.

Willy Pedreaux is a man from Miranda's past. He's dying and insistent that Miranda return to Louisiana to receive some important information about her past-and following his death, to receive her inheritance that includes the family mansion.

Willy dies before he can give Miranda all the information she needs to understand what happened to her and her family so many years ago. But Miranda's need for the truth conquers her fear of `knowing' and she follows the clues that will unearth dark family secrets involving deaths, a valuable treasure, and enemies she didn't know existed.

Whispers of the Bayou sizzles! The Louisiana setting, the myths, treasure, murders and mayhem make for a wonderful story that won't be set aside. The pages keep turning long into the night and when the last page is read, you will want more. While this is from a Christian publisher, it's really a crossover book. Christianity and the relationship with Christ is something dealt with at the very end of the book.

Armchair Interviews says: Whispers of the Bayou is worth the read.

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Whispers of the Bayou

I finished this book yesterday (saying Wow! all the way through). I'm still saying, Wow!!! Mindy gives us several possible suspects and keeps us waiting 'til the end to find the final answer. New information is given throughout until the full picture is revealed. Sometimes I finish a book and wish there were more to it. Not with this one. It has just the right suspense, personal instrospection, and final resolution.

good mystery with family values

Enjoyed this book very much. My first by Mindy Starns Clark. Would like to read more of her books. A good mystery without profanity. Enjoyed learning about Cajun history. Upon Miranda Miller's inheritance, her whole life began to change, including who she was.

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Willie's Secret

Whispers of the Bayou was our book club selection for May, and embarrassingly, I was the only one who hadn't finished the novel before the meeting. In fact, I didn't even have my own copy. Even after hearing about the Whispers plot and of Miranda's attack, her tattoo, her trip to the bayou, her surprising genealogy, and all of the other exciting yet scary events, I still wanted to read the book for myself.

I found it to be a suspenseful tale, especially towards the end when Miranda begins to uncover her grandmother's paintings beneath the wall paint. Events begin to unfold quickly, and many of the previous "foreshadowing" begins to make sense. For instance the cut on her supposed father's head raises some questions...as do some of Lisa's blasé responses. I never could figure out the reason for the food poisoning scenario unless it was to throw the reader off track; if that was the case, it worked.

All things considered, it was a suspenseful, "clean" book and a great introduction to the work of this author. I love books with happy-ever-after endings, and Whispers of the Bayou fits this description. Despite heartache, loss, and death, love prevails.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

From the author of the popular Million Dollar Mysteries and Smart Chick Mysteries comes a new stand?alone novel full of hidden staircases, buried secrets, and the promise of hope found in knowing God.

Miranda Miller wasn?t looking for the news the day the letter came. But, trying to survive in troubled circumstances, she welcomes the chance to change her location for a period of time. The letter informs her that her grandparents? estate is finally about to become hers. She immediately heads down to Louisiana and the old house by the bayou. There Miranda finds secrets that lead to life?changing revelations.

This suspenseful story reminiscent of old Gothic tales has a complex mystery and a vivid sense of the Deep South. It shows how God can take the darkest circumstances and use them to light a bright path leading to the future.

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