{{Infobox book , name = Devil May Care , title_orig = , translator = , image = File:Devil May Care (Peters novel).jpg , caption = First edition , author =

Elizabeth Peters Barbara Louise Mertz (September 29, 1927 – August 8, 2013) was an American author who wrote under her own name as well as under the pseudonyms Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels. In 1952, she received a PhD in Egyptology from the Univers ...

, illustrator = , cover_artist = , country = United States , language = English , series = , genre =

Romantic suspense A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Pr ...

, publisher = Dodd, Mead & Co. , release_date = 1977 , media_type = Print ( paperbsck) , pages = , isbn = , oclc = ''Devil-May-Care'' (spelled ''Devil May Care'' in later editions) is a novel of romantic suspense published by

in 1977. It has been re-released several times and recorded on audio CD by Grace Conlen. It is the sixth of nine "stand alone" books written by prolific author Barbara Mertz under the Elizabeth Peters pseudonym. (The vast majority of novels written under the Barbara Michaels pseudonym are stand alones.) According to WorldCat, the book is held in 919 libraries WorldCat item record
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Plot

Young, beautiful Ellie is to house-sit for her wealthy and eccentric Aunt Kate, who lives in one of the oldest towns in Virginia, founded in the 17th century by six families from England. Aunt Kate has a plethora of dogs and cats, and even a rat, that Ellie must care for, but once Aunt Kate leaves ghostly manifestations begin to occur. Is someone trying to drive Ellie out of the house, or has her arrival stirred up emotions and old enmities that had been long forgotten? Descendants of the six founding families quarrel and interfere as Ellie and a neighbor, Donald Gold, attempt to sort out what is fakery, what is malice, and what might be supernatural.

References

Novels by Elizabeth Peters 1977 American novels Novels set in Virginia