Atmosphere steamy in Southern Gothic

Summers in the Lowcountry can be pretty brutal.

Temperatures soar into the 90s and then stay there for days. The sun is intense and unforgiving to exposed body parts that haven't been slathered with an SPF in the double digits. Humidity turns the air thick and heavy like molasses, but this hot sultry weather is the perfect recipe for a certain kind of romance that I particularly love to read. I'm referring to the modern Southern Gothic.

Atmosphere is everything in these books. Think trailing Spanish moss in ancient live oaks, ghostly mist hovering in the air, a wild tangle of foliage creeping up against a big house with secrets in every room, strange cries in the night and shadowy bayous.

Family dysfunction is another characteristic. Several generations live under the same roof, resulting in a toxic brew of jealousy, rivalry and resentment. There's usually an element of the "prodigal son" returning, an event that stirs long-simmering tensions and results in a shocking secret uncovered.

A few other ingredients include a hero from the wrong side of the tracks and a killer on the loose.

Two of Tami Hoag's earlier works are among my favorite examples of this type of book. In both "Lucky's Lady" and "Cry Wolf," the heroine returns home after staying away for years and must confront painful truths about the past. The hero in each is a Cajun who seemingly lives by the motto laissez les bons temps rouler, otherwise known as "let the good times roll."

Linda Howard also has written a few steamy Southern Gothics. "Shades of Twilight" is about an Alabama family whose favorite son returns after being in exile for 10 years following the suspicious death of his young wife. "After the Night" is the explosive story of two families with a tangled history and the hero and heroine who try to overcome it.

"One Summer" by Karen Robards is about a teacher who decides to help out a man just released from prison who was convicted of murdering a young woman years earlier. He also was a former student of hers, and his return to their small hometown sets the killer loose again.

The Nora Roberts book "Carolina Moon" takes place in a fictional South Carolina town and has a bit of the paranormal element thrown in to mix things up a bit. And, if you can find a copy (since it's out of print), "Shameless" by Jennifer Blake has the heirs to two leading families in a small Louisiana town go toe to toe over the ownership of a logging business while trying to solve an old family mystery.

My all-time favorite for this type of romance is Sandra Brown's "Slow Heat in Heaven." It has everything: a faltering business, a patriarch who's sick but still rules with an iron fist, two sisters in love with the same man, compelling secondary characters, betrayal, family secrets and a Cajun bad boy (my favorite).

Reach Rebekah Bradford at rebekah.bradford@gmail.com.