Scarlet Nights by Jude Deveraux (2010)

Just a fun read. Mike is a super duper undercover detective, who often has to go undercover for long periods of time while he gets close to the women involved with the criminals, to get them arrested. This time he gets an assignment in the small town of Edilean where his grandmother used to live and his sister still lives. Since dangerous and unscrupulous criminals are involved, he has her go out of the country on a honeymoon, while he gets close to Sara, who is engaged to Greg, one of the criminals. The other criminal lives in the area, but no one knows what she looks like. They lure Greg out of town, and Mike shows up as the brother that has to stay in his sister's apartment, while on a case.

The town is full of delightful characters, but the plot gets a bit overwhelming in the end. The town liked Brian, Sara's first boyfriend, but he dumped her. They are not fond of Greg. Mike seems to fit in. There is a historical large house involved, that Mike inherits through his grandmother some way. There is a crazy old coot that lives out in the large house and has set traps all around it. There is the Frazier family of large brothers that are the town's royalty. Sara's mother is the mayor. the plot all comes together at an annual fair, for which Sara has sewn many of the costumes. There are tarot cards involved - painted by a local artist, an impromptu wedding that borrows flowers from a wedding the next day, and Scarlet Nights refers to a perfume Sara's mother has concocted for special occasions.

I knew I had read something by Deveraux, as when I chose this from the library shelf, my hand first went to Heartwishes, and starting to read the cover I knew I had read it. Thank goodness for this blog, as I did not realize that that book was part of the Edilean series, where Collin Frazier is involved. The second book about this small town that I read was Lavender Morning, which I had totally forgotten about. That was about Joce and Luke, who are landlords to Sara and are expecting a baby.