Set in sultry, post-Katrina New Orleans amidst the non-stop revelry of Mardi Gras, THIGH HIGH is the latest book in Dodd’s contemporary romantic suspeSet in sultry, post-Katrina New Orleans amidst the non-stop revelry of Mardi Gras, THIGH HIGH is the latest book in Dodd’s contemporary romantic suspense series. It’s filled with plenty of action and suspense, hot sensuality and a whole host of the quirky, offbeat characters for which New Orleans is known.
Every Mardi Gras for the past four years, the “Beaded Bandits” have robbed a New Orleans branch of Premier Central Bank. Masked and gowned, the unfailingly polite bandits ask for specific, fairly small amounts of money (less than $2,000), dispense fashion advice and never harm anyone. To the residents of the Big Easy, the bandits are deemed harmless, just two more quirky characters in a city filled with eccentrics.
Mac MacNaught is the self-made CEO of Premier Central Bank. He is arrogant, domineering and unyielding. A large, muscular man, his face and body are mapped with scars and he will never be called handsome but he oozes a raw sexuality that has women of all ages falling at his feet. He hates liars and thieves and is furious that someone would have the audacity to rob his bank. From his office in Philadelphia he obsessively watches the video screens of daily operations in his New Orleans bank and, specifically, the actions of the Assistant Manager of that bank, Miss Ionessa Dahl, the woman who fascinates him even though he suspects her of planning the Mardi Gras robberies.
Nessa Dahl was orphaned at the age of five and raised by her great aunts, Hestia and Calista Dahl, impoverished but much beloved doyennes of New Orleans society. Because of their financial straits the sisters have been forced to open their Garden District home, The Dahl House, to boarders but still reign supreme as the hostesses of the Mardi Gras party nobody in New Orleans wants to miss. Nessa Dahl is the assistant manager of the New Orleans branch of the Premier Central Bank. She is liked and admired by the people of New Orleans and the staff and customers of the bank and is primarily responsible for the bank’s success but, because of a mistake made seven years ago, has never been given the promotion she yearns for and deserves. She remains under the thumb of That Woman, otherwise known as Stephanie a/k/a Stephabeast, the bank manager who is reviled by employees and feared by customers but has the approval and support of the bank’s reclusive CEO, Mac MacNaught..
As another Mardi Gras approaches and the insurance investigator Mac sent to New Orleans to investigate Nessa returns to Philadelphia having clearly fallen under her spell, Mac decides the time has come to take matters into his own hands. Posing as an insurance investigator, he travels to New Orleans to investigate Nessa himself and put a stop to the bank robberies once and for all. The intense sexual attraction between the brash Yankee, Mac and charming Southerner, Nessa is instantaneous and he is relentless in his sexual pursuit of her as they work together to solve the mystery of the Beaded Bandits, even as he continues to investigate her and is certain she is the person behind the robberies, bless his heart.
Dodd has penned another terrific story with a hero and heroine you’ll fall in love with and littered with wonderful secondary characters and enough fast moving twists and turns and sizzling hot sensuality to keep you turning pages until the final word. As a bonus for readers, a surprise is revealed about a favorite character from Dodd’s previous books who makes an appearance in THIGH HIGH.