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Bayou Hero
In this book from USA TODAY bestselling author Marilyn Pappano, one family's scandal is responsible for a rising body count…
Even for an experienced NCIS agent like Alia Kingsley, the murder scene is particularly gruesome. Someone killed in a fit of rage. Being the long-estranged son of the deceased, Landry Jackson quickly becomes a person of interest. But does Landry loathe his father as much as the feds suspect?
It's clear to Alia that Landry Jackson has secrets, but his hatred for his father isn't one of them. Alia feels sure Landry isn't the killer, but once more family members start dying, she's forced to question herself. What if the fierce attraction between her and Landry has compromised Alia's instincts?
Even for an experienced NCIS agent like Alia Kingsley, the murder scene is particularly gruesome. Someone killed in a fit of rage. Being the long-estranged son of the deceased, Landry Jackson quickly becomes a person of interest. But does Landry loathe his father as much as the feds suspect?
It's clear to Alia that Landry Jackson has secrets, but his hatred for his father isn't one of them. Alia feels sure Landry isn't the killer, but once more family members start dying, she's forced to question herself. What if the fierce attraction between her and Landry has compromised Alia's instincts?
283 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2015
5 people are currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
Marilyn Pappano
192 books126 followersAward-winning and bestselling author, international traveler, feted at a Hollywood premiere . . .
All true . . . but my regular life is a whole lot more routine. Deal with the five big puppers who share our house, babysit our grandson, battle the jungle that is our yard, pray for summer in winter and dream of winter in summer, and hunker down at the computer -- that's my real life.
I grew up in Oklahoma and had the fun of living in Georgia, Alabama, California and the Carolinas, thanks to my husband's Navy career. When he retired, we came home to Oklahoma and have lived in the same house for seventeen years. That's a real "Wow!" for someone used to the nomadic military life.
Writing was the perfect career for all that moving. Have computer, will travel. I've set books, or part of them, in every state we've lived in and been inspired by every place I've ever been. I've now written somewhere around 80 books, and I think I've got only about 8,000 stories left to tell.
My biggest hobby is starting new projects -- starting. Not completing. I'm still not done with the cross-stitched Army seal I started when our son joined out of high school. He did tours in Georgia, Colorado, Korea, Italy, Iraq, Afghanistan and Louisiana, and has been out for a few years. So I'm a little slow.
I like to think about getting organized, painting my living room in cool beachy colors, and turning my entire five-acre yard into a garden. I also dream about having every room in my house clean at exactly the same time, but I live by the motto of the woman who taught me to quilt: A clean house is the sign of a bored woman.
And I've never been bored.
All true . . . but my regular life is a whole lot more routine. Deal with the five big puppers who share our house, babysit our grandson, battle the jungle that is our yard, pray for summer in winter and dream of winter in summer, and hunker down at the computer -- that's my real life.
I grew up in Oklahoma and had the fun of living in Georgia, Alabama, California and the Carolinas, thanks to my husband's Navy career. When he retired, we came home to Oklahoma and have lived in the same house for seventeen years. That's a real "Wow!" for someone used to the nomadic military life.
Writing was the perfect career for all that moving. Have computer, will travel. I've set books, or part of them, in every state we've lived in and been inspired by every place I've ever been. I've now written somewhere around 80 books, and I think I've got only about 8,000 stories left to tell.
My biggest hobby is starting new projects -- starting. Not completing. I'm still not done with the cross-stitched Army seal I started when our son joined out of high school. He did tours in Georgia, Colorado, Korea, Italy, Iraq, Afghanistan and Louisiana, and has been out for a few years. So I'm a little slow.
I like to think about getting organized, painting my living room in cool beachy colors, and turning my entire five-acre yard into a garden. I also dream about having every room in my house clean at exactly the same time, but I live by the motto of the woman who taught me to quilt: A clean house is the sign of a bored woman.
And I've never been bored.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
July 27, 2017
** 3.5 stars **
January 7, 2015
3 STARS
Bayou Hero is a good murder suspense romance. I did figure out who and why pretty fast in the story. Also why now.
The cemetery scene was very creepy. The idea that you can't bury anyone else in family tomb for a year and a day. Then they sweep the bones to far back. I missed what they did with casket? There was also a lot of blood and gore. Considering I am reading this a week before Halloween is fitting but for Jan. You decide.
The romance of the book started out pretty fast. I admire that Alia did not try and hide it but did the right thing. There is one love scene that I skipped over.
I like Alia and Landry. The contrast between the two different styles of families with the fathers both rear admirals when retired. How Alia was raised all over as a Navy brat compared again how Landry's family did not go with his father on his different tours. Also how their mothers were opposites too.
Alia is with NCIS. Divorced who is working the case with her ex-husband.
Landry is a bar tender. Never married.
The setting is New Orleans.
I would love to have Alia ability to eat like she does and stays in good shape. I would love to try some of the food they talk about in the book it sounds delicious.
I would read another book by Marilyn Pappano in the future.
I was given this ebook from Net Galley and Harlequin to read so I could give a honest review of Bayou Hero.
Bayou Hero is a good murder suspense romance. I did figure out who and why pretty fast in the story. Also why now.
The cemetery scene was very creepy. The idea that you can't bury anyone else in family tomb for a year and a day. Then they sweep the bones to far back. I missed what they did with casket? There was also a lot of blood and gore. Considering I am reading this a week before Halloween is fitting but for Jan. You decide.
The romance of the book started out pretty fast. I admire that Alia did not try and hide it but did the right thing. There is one love scene that I skipped over.
I like Alia and Landry. The contrast between the two different styles of families with the fathers both rear admirals when retired. How Alia was raised all over as a Navy brat compared again how Landry's family did not go with his father on his different tours. Also how their mothers were opposites too.
Alia is with NCIS. Divorced who is working the case with her ex-husband.
Landry is a bar tender. Never married.
The setting is New Orleans.
I would love to have Alia ability to eat like she does and stays in good shape. I would love to try some of the food they talk about in the book it sounds delicious.
I would read another book by Marilyn Pappano in the future.
I was given this ebook from Net Galley and Harlequin to read so I could give a honest review of Bayou Hero.
January 20, 2015
So, let me start this off by saying I have an inspiring aunt who loves to read. And ages ago, she started sharing her books with me. And usually, I do not include them in my review totals as I am consumed with my ARCs and book club reads. But I was intrigued when she stated that she always buys a book by this author without a second thought.
I can see why. This author can spin a tale and make you totally immersed in it very quickly. I was captivated by the characters as well as the plot. I have seen other reviews that stated that when one reads a lot, it is hard to be surprised by plot twists. I find that to be true for the most part. But still, I did not feel that it was a mark against the story at all here.
I gave this story a 4 star rating not because it was a new or unique story. I gave it that because it was well written and engrossing. Something you can not always find to be sure.
I can see why. This author can spin a tale and make you totally immersed in it very quickly. I was captivated by the characters as well as the plot. I have seen other reviews that stated that when one reads a lot, it is hard to be surprised by plot twists. I find that to be true for the most part. But still, I did not feel that it was a mark against the story at all here.
I gave this story a 4 star rating not because it was a new or unique story. I gave it that because it was well written and engrossing. Something you can not always find to be sure.
December 16, 2014
I thought this was a really good romantic suspense. There was a slow build up to the mystery but it worked I think to add to the surprise of who the killer is at the end (I didn't quite see that coming). Also I liked the relationship between Landry and Alia. There was a connection and of course lust but there's was also a slow build and as they got to know each other, intimacy that wasn't only about sex. I liked that he brought out the softer side of her and that she was written as a woman who was tough and could take care of herself (no damsels in distress here). The story was on the darker side but it was really a love story developing from something pretty ugly. Recommended read.
January 18, 2015
3.5 stars
January 6, 2015
Read for review. Review will be in January 2015. And here it is! TL:dr ... it's copied from my Heroes and Heartbreakers page. I really did like it ... it walked the line beautifully between suspense and a slowly unfolding romance.
What’s in a title? If “Bayou” is part of the package, what’s going to be unwrapped? Marilyn Pappano serves up romantic suspense in the midst of charming New Orleans with Bourbon Street music and partying, and the serenity of the Garden District taking center stage. N’awlins is definitely in Bayou Hero’s cast of characters.
NCIS agent Alia Kingsley and her ex-husband, New Orleans Detective DiBiase are assigned to a grisly Garden District murder scene. How often in romantic suspense books do you meet a professional woman working alongside her ex when it’s not so they can get back together? Alia’s mother says to her, “You loved him so much.”
“I did. Until I didn’t.” It hadn’t been easy, especially when she’d thought he meant the vows he’d taken, but trust and love could survive only so many betrayals. One too many, and her love had stopped. One moment it was there. The next it was gone, never to return.
There are gruesome multi-body murders and long-festering hatreds alongside an examination of the spectrum of love and hatred between parents and their children, particularly as Pappano contrasts the comfortable relationship of Alia and her parents to bartender Landry’s troubled past. It’s somewhat unnerving to listen to Landry and Alia talk about her marriage to Detective DiBiase.
Landry is consumed with curiosity. He wonders why in the three years of their marriage, she hadn’t tried to kill her ex-husband. A very good question and Alia replies,
“Though there were times . . .”
Landry smiled. It was a really good look on him. Good enough to make a woman spend extra time checking him out. She imagined on a warm evening, when relentless rain had put a dint in the Quarter’s usual nightlife, a woman looking for a good time knew she’d found it when she walked into his bar . . .
Bayou Hero is a perfect follow-up to Linda Howard’s Kiss and Tell. Lust, rain on a hot night in the French Quarter—it’s a recipe for sultry yearnings if ever there was one. Bayou Hero is also an armchair gourmand’s delight. Ms. “Hollow-Leg” Kingsley has a reverence for New Orleans cooking of every ethnicity and description and she and Landry deepen their burgeoning friendship over meals, snacks, barbeques, and killer pastries. But the real counterpoint to two adults getting to know one another is murder and more murders. In a five-day span, Landry loses his father and his surrogate grandmother, and is witness to the gruesome discovery of his mother’s body. He tells Alia he’s been through worse times, but she wonders, “What qualified for worse?”
Alia knows early on that Landry is not a suspect but she also realizes he’s deeply intertwined with the motive behind the murders. Shouldn’t that stop her from wanting to see him socially? Her innate honesty doesn’t allow her to accept the fig leaf Landry tosses her when she goes to see him one evening. He suggests she has no life outside of work, with the evidence being her presence in his bar.
It was the perfect statement to ignore. That was her intention, but all on its own, her mouth opened and words she shouldn’t be thinking, much less speaking aloud, found their way out. “Work was just the excuse. I wondered how you were doing.” He looked at her—just that—and heat began rising from deep inside.
These two are so cautious. Landry’s troubles run back to childhood and his present equilibrium is the result of a lot of hard work, soul-searching, and a rather restrictive life. Alia too lives up to her internal standards, but Landry has her considering a move that she thinks is unprofessional.
Maybe she should. Maybe, just once, she could do what she wanted instead of what she should. The world wouldn’t stop turning. Chaos wouldn’t descend. What was the worst that could happen?
How Alia crafts a professional response to her profound interest in getting to know Landry a whole lot better, how Landry lets down his barriers to allow her in, makes for a surprising, absorbing story of two people that are better together than they are apart.
Landry wants to be with Alia, oh how he does. When she reaches up and cups his face between her hands, kissing him, it brings “with it hunger and need and a sort of unsteadiness in his gut that he remembered all too well.” They come together on a hot sultry night.
Lightning lit the room, brilliant enough to glow against his eyelids, and a breath later thunder rattled the old house. Immediately both repeated, thunder still rolling while lightning zagged across the sky. They were in the heart of the storm, their breathing ragged, her hands roaming, his body straining.
Bayou Hero is a feast for the senses. Terror at past memories that spread their tentacles into the present day, sends shivers down the spine. Music and musk is in the atmosphere, redolent with incipient rain, and laden with the scent of the tantalizing food. Pappano’s deft touch makes this an out-of-the-ordinary story with which to kick off 2015 reading. For all the sadness, since journeying into the heart of childhood darkness is never easy, this is a laissez les bons temps rouler story—Alia and Landry believe that life is for the living and it’s worth grabbing onto happiness.
What’s in a title? If “Bayou” is part of the package, what’s going to be unwrapped? Marilyn Pappano serves up romantic suspense in the midst of charming New Orleans with Bourbon Street music and partying, and the serenity of the Garden District taking center stage. N’awlins is definitely in Bayou Hero’s cast of characters.
NCIS agent Alia Kingsley and her ex-husband, New Orleans Detective DiBiase are assigned to a grisly Garden District murder scene. How often in romantic suspense books do you meet a professional woman working alongside her ex when it’s not so they can get back together? Alia’s mother says to her, “You loved him so much.”
“I did. Until I didn’t.” It hadn’t been easy, especially when she’d thought he meant the vows he’d taken, but trust and love could survive only so many betrayals. One too many, and her love had stopped. One moment it was there. The next it was gone, never to return.
There are gruesome multi-body murders and long-festering hatreds alongside an examination of the spectrum of love and hatred between parents and their children, particularly as Pappano contrasts the comfortable relationship of Alia and her parents to bartender Landry’s troubled past. It’s somewhat unnerving to listen to Landry and Alia talk about her marriage to Detective DiBiase.
Landry is consumed with curiosity. He wonders why in the three years of their marriage, she hadn’t tried to kill her ex-husband. A very good question and Alia replies,
“Though there were times . . .”
Landry smiled. It was a really good look on him. Good enough to make a woman spend extra time checking him out. She imagined on a warm evening, when relentless rain had put a dint in the Quarter’s usual nightlife, a woman looking for a good time knew she’d found it when she walked into his bar . . .
Bayou Hero is a perfect follow-up to Linda Howard’s Kiss and Tell. Lust, rain on a hot night in the French Quarter—it’s a recipe for sultry yearnings if ever there was one. Bayou Hero is also an armchair gourmand’s delight. Ms. “Hollow-Leg” Kingsley has a reverence for New Orleans cooking of every ethnicity and description and she and Landry deepen their burgeoning friendship over meals, snacks, barbeques, and killer pastries. But the real counterpoint to two adults getting to know one another is murder and more murders. In a five-day span, Landry loses his father and his surrogate grandmother, and is witness to the gruesome discovery of his mother’s body. He tells Alia he’s been through worse times, but she wonders, “What qualified for worse?”
Alia knows early on that Landry is not a suspect but she also realizes he’s deeply intertwined with the motive behind the murders. Shouldn’t that stop her from wanting to see him socially? Her innate honesty doesn’t allow her to accept the fig leaf Landry tosses her when she goes to see him one evening. He suggests she has no life outside of work, with the evidence being her presence in his bar.
It was the perfect statement to ignore. That was her intention, but all on its own, her mouth opened and words she shouldn’t be thinking, much less speaking aloud, found their way out. “Work was just the excuse. I wondered how you were doing.” He looked at her—just that—and heat began rising from deep inside.
These two are so cautious. Landry’s troubles run back to childhood and his present equilibrium is the result of a lot of hard work, soul-searching, and a rather restrictive life. Alia too lives up to her internal standards, but Landry has her considering a move that she thinks is unprofessional.
Maybe she should. Maybe, just once, she could do what she wanted instead of what she should. The world wouldn’t stop turning. Chaos wouldn’t descend. What was the worst that could happen?
How Alia crafts a professional response to her profound interest in getting to know Landry a whole lot better, how Landry lets down his barriers to allow her in, makes for a surprising, absorbing story of two people that are better together than they are apart.
Landry wants to be with Alia, oh how he does. When she reaches up and cups his face between her hands, kissing him, it brings “with it hunger and need and a sort of unsteadiness in his gut that he remembered all too well.” They come together on a hot sultry night.
Lightning lit the room, brilliant enough to glow against his eyelids, and a breath later thunder rattled the old house. Immediately both repeated, thunder still rolling while lightning zagged across the sky. They were in the heart of the storm, their breathing ragged, her hands roaming, his body straining.
Bayou Hero is a feast for the senses. Terror at past memories that spread their tentacles into the present day, sends shivers down the spine. Music and musk is in the atmosphere, redolent with incipient rain, and laden with the scent of the tantalizing food. Pappano’s deft touch makes this an out-of-the-ordinary story with which to kick off 2015 reading. For all the sadness, since journeying into the heart of childhood darkness is never easy, this is a laissez les bons temps rouler story—Alia and Landry believe that life is for the living and it’s worth grabbing onto happiness.
December 13, 2023
3.5 Stars. An interesting plot with twists and turns. I have read the author’s more current books and was pleased to find some of her earlier books. The story kept me engrossed. It did have a Southern Gothic flare.
February 9, 2021
3.5. Kindle
March 10, 2023
I did not like this storyline!!!
December 4, 2014
Bayou Hero is by Marilyn Pappano. It is a romantic suspense. It started out a little slow for me but once is caught my attention, I could not put it down. It was excellent.
NCIS agent Alia Kingsley is caught up in seven gruesome murders, one after the other. What in the world is going on. She has to work with her ex-husband, Jimmy on the case. Technically, she is working the case of Rear Admiral Jeremiah Jackson for the Navy; but the others seem to be connected. The night Admiral Jackson was murdered, his housekeeper, a disabled child, and the groundskeeper were also murdered, although not as brutally as he was. Following this murder was the murder of his cousin Viola, the murder of his wife, and the murder of a close friend of his with an attack on a second friend. There has to be a connection and an explanation.
Landry Jackson hated his father and hadn’t spoken to him or seen him since Landry left home at fifteen. In addition, his father blamed him for having to send Jeremiah’s daughter to boarding school. Landry kept in touch with his mother twice a year and with his sister much more. The only other relative he was consistent in keeping in touch with was his cousin Viola. He refuses to tell Alia why he and his father were estranged. However, he did have an ironclad alibi for the time his father was killed. That takes him off the suspect list, doesn’t it?
Alia finds herself in an awkward situation and one in which she never thought she would find herself. She is attracted to Landry. Is this attraction compromising her instinct and her investigation? This investigation will make her career; but can she do it?
NCIS agent Alia Kingsley is caught up in seven gruesome murders, one after the other. What in the world is going on. She has to work with her ex-husband, Jimmy on the case. Technically, she is working the case of Rear Admiral Jeremiah Jackson for the Navy; but the others seem to be connected. The night Admiral Jackson was murdered, his housekeeper, a disabled child, and the groundskeeper were also murdered, although not as brutally as he was. Following this murder was the murder of his cousin Viola, the murder of his wife, and the murder of a close friend of his with an attack on a second friend. There has to be a connection and an explanation.
Landry Jackson hated his father and hadn’t spoken to him or seen him since Landry left home at fifteen. In addition, his father blamed him for having to send Jeremiah’s daughter to boarding school. Landry kept in touch with his mother twice a year and with his sister much more. The only other relative he was consistent in keeping in touch with was his cousin Viola. He refuses to tell Alia why he and his father were estranged. However, he did have an ironclad alibi for the time his father was killed. That takes him off the suspect list, doesn’t it?
Alia finds herself in an awkward situation and one in which she never thought she would find herself. She is attracted to Landry. Is this attraction compromising her instinct and her investigation? This investigation will make her career; but can she do it?
July 8, 2016
From the cover: Even for an experienced NCIS agent like Alia Kingsley, the murder scene is particularly gruesome. Someone killed in a fit of rage. Being the long-estranged son of the deceased, Landry Jackson quickly becomes a person of interest. But does Landry loathe his father as much as the feds suspect? It's clear to Alia that Landry Jackson has secrets, but his hatred for his father isn't one of them. Alia feels sure Landry isn't the killer, but once more family members start dying, she's forced to question herself. What if the fierce attraction between her and Landry has compromised Alia's instincts?
I've read a lot of these books lately (my sister gives me a bag filled with them). I usually don't like romance suspense mostly because the story line moves too quickly, the characters really don't work well together. This book was different. I liked the characters, the storyline was filled with twists and turns. The book had everything-a little romance, murder, wealthy men, sexual abuse, lies, etc. It was a great read.
I've read a lot of these books lately (my sister gives me a bag filled with them). I usually don't like romance suspense mostly because the story line moves too quickly, the characters really don't work well together. This book was different. I liked the characters, the storyline was filled with twists and turns. The book had everything-a little romance, murder, wealthy men, sexual abuse, lies, etc. It was a great read.
August 12, 2015
Delightful tension.
A group of rich, powerful families in New Orleans is good at keeping secrets. Until Admiral Jeremiah Jackson Jr. and three members of his household are murdered.
Alia Kingsley, NCIS Special Agent, arrives at her new case, a multiple homicide to discover the New Orleans detective is her ex-husband. She respects his professional skills but squelches any notion he has of rebuilding their personal relationship.
The admiral’s estranged son goes by the name Landry now. It’s only after two more murders that he even considers exposing the long held secret behind the fracture in the family.
I admired the strength of the characters in this story. They have the courage to make difficult decisions in both their professional and personal lives to solve the murders and find true love. I didn’t want to put it down.
A group of rich, powerful families in New Orleans is good at keeping secrets. Until Admiral Jeremiah Jackson Jr. and three members of his household are murdered.
Alia Kingsley, NCIS Special Agent, arrives at her new case, a multiple homicide to discover the New Orleans detective is her ex-husband. She respects his professional skills but squelches any notion he has of rebuilding their personal relationship.
The admiral’s estranged son goes by the name Landry now. It’s only after two more murders that he even considers exposing the long held secret behind the fracture in the family.
I admired the strength of the characters in this story. They have the courage to make difficult decisions in both their professional and personal lives to solve the murders and find true love. I didn’t want to put it down.
December 21, 2014
3.5 Stars
A romantic suspense novel with two intriguing MCs. The female one is very independent and in law enforcement (NCIS). I like that she loves food but not cooking. The male has a pretty dark past, but he survives it to become a thoughtful guy. There are some serious themes in this book. The romance is slow, but in a good way. It works well with the tragedy.
Net Galley Feedback
A romantic suspense novel with two intriguing MCs. The female one is very independent and in law enforcement (NCIS). I like that she loves food but not cooking. The male has a pretty dark past, but he survives it to become a thoughtful guy. There are some serious themes in this book. The romance is slow, but in a good way. It works well with the tragedy.
Net Galley Feedback
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January 12, 2016"An intriguing beginning, strong writing and interesting characters are the highlights of Pappano’s latest. Sizzling chemistry between Landry and Alia and a well-crafted plot makes it a fun page-turner" (RT Book Reviews, 4 1/2 stars).
April 25, 2015
I would say 4.5 stars.
January 2, 2015
Marilyn at her very best. Complex and intense read. Could not put it down. Steamy, multiple murder mystery set in New Orleans. You will love Alia and Landry. Family secrets can be deadly.
August 16, 2015
Really liked Special Agent Alia. Good writing. Crime subject is a hard one to read sometimes.
May 28, 2016
New Orleans as the setting! What's not to like! Add murder and romance - it can only equal a good read!
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews