Stella St. Vallier has come home to try and save her family’s sugar cane plantation, Shadow Oaks. Still in mourning for her parents, who were killed in a freak car accident, Stella isn’t sure she has what it takes to save the family legacy. Things go from bad to worse when she catches a local strip club owner, Toutant, picking up a drug shipment on her property. Angry that her land is being used for illegal purposes and getting no help from the local authorities, she marches into the strip club and reads Toutant the riot act before the club’s bouncer, Garrett Shaw, throws her out.

Garrett isn’t sure what to think of the bayou-blue-blood, but he knows she’s in over her head and tries to warn her off. He knows there are men far more powerful than Toutant involved – men who will do anything to keep what’s going on around Shadow Oaks a secret. Stella thinks Garrett is just another bully until she catches him one night observing another drug shipment; he swears if she’ll leave things alone the authorities will take care of it soon. Stella knows she can’t trust the local authorities, but can she trust Garrett? Especially when he shows up on her property with a bullet in his back. Is he really an undercover U.S. Marshal, as he claims, or another drug smuggler on the run from the law?

The reader will of course know who Stella can and can’t trust from page one, but the suspense is how she’s going to get out this mess alive. McKinney builds such an overwhelming web of lies and walls around Stella it’s little wonder she doesn’t know who she can trust. She knows whom she dislikes, but the air of authority that certain people carry nearly outweighs instinct and common sense. Stella is a strong heroine who vacillates between her following her heart and her head, which allows for a balance that leads her where she needs to go.

Garrett is a man with issues, issues that border on obsessions and that blind him to the real danger around him. He’s so focused on his goal that he makes a stupid choice that had me wanting to reach through the pages and slap some sense into him. But as the choice was storyline-dictated and true to his character, I let it slide. I liked the fact that no matter how frustrated he got with Stella, he never forced her hand. He trusted her to make the right decisions in the end.

As much as I enjoyed this book, there were a few problems. The villains bordered on caricatures. Beyond a few halfhearted scenes from their point of view, it seemed that McKinney was uninterested in their motivations. Though the villains were one-dimensional, Stella’s Black cook and her great aunt Rose came right out of central casting. Even worse, while Stella’s reasons for wavering about who to trust was clear, these two ladies waffle so much without sensible rationale that they were annoying. Like the secondary characters, the subplot about Stella’s ancestors and a missing treasure was underplayed, but mentioned frequently enough that it was more bothersome than entertaining. Lastly, the mystery was such a focus of the book and the time period that Stella and Garrett were together so short I never really believed they were in love. Lust and gratitude yes; love no.

Still of the Night is quite a readable and intriguing tale of suspense about when to follow reason and when to follow your heart. Although it features likable leads, its secondary characters pull it back from perfection and muddy the waters. This one earns a qualified recommendation.