Silence Never Betrays

Hadrian Boswell, eccentric owner of The Oaks, an antebellum mansion in a small town in southwestern Louisiana, has a terrible fear of the ghosts that haunt the mansion. To assuage his fears, he instigates nighttime pranks. His black servant and companion, King, alternately despises and respects him. Because of Hadrian's shenanigans, most townspeople shun him--as do famous artists and writers after they visit The Oaks. Waverly Bradford has been in love with Hadrian despite their aborted marriage, thirty years earlier, when they were art students in New Orleans. They had married secretly, and because Hadrian could not consummate the marriage, it was annulled. Waverly, living on nearby Deer Island, plans to visit Hadrian now that he has returned to Comeaux to renovate his antebellum mansion. However the visit is short-lived. Hadrian stages a prank that causes her to flee and vow to get revenge. Meanwhile, Joseph Hollier seeks out Hadrian for art instruction, and Hadrian takes him on. On a wild boat excursion to Lost Island in the Gulf of Mexico, Hadrian permanently damages his right hand trying to escape "cachemars." Joseph moves in with Hadrian. King plots to get rid of Joseph Hollier; Joseph plots to get rid of Hadrian. Voodoo houngans enter the scene, and Hadrian is pushed or falls from a second-story gallery of The Oaks mansion. He dies in the hospital. Was he pushed? If so, by whom? Is he really dead?