The sequel to Blue Camellia, and set in 1920s Louisiana. The children of Lavinia Villac are a trial. Anne-Marie is a spoiled darling, who had only to make up her mind to say 'Yes' to any one of half a dozen eligible young men, but at twenty-four she hadn't yet been able to say it. Prosper, Lavinia's only son and the mainstay of their rice mill, has been going regularly to the dance hall over August Schultz's grocery store - along with most of the young men of Crowley - to flirt with Titine, a singer. But Titine, and the gold slippers he bought her, slip to the back of Prosper's mind when he meets and falls in love with Victorine La Branche - beautiful, spirited, wealthy and possessed of an indomitable constancy. Then a tragedy strikes - Titine is found dead in a bin at the Villac rice mill - and the last person to leave the mill before it closed is Prosper... A Gothic murder mystery and romance all in one.