Devil's Fire — Melissa MacNeal

Destitute following her father's death, young Mary Grace visits the handsome but lecherous mortician Hyde Fortune, who once promised her employment. It isn't long before they are consummating their lust for each other and involving Fortune's housekeeper, the exotic Yu Ling, and his dark assistant Sebastian.

When Fortune gets Mary a live-in position as a seamstress at Heaven's Gate -- a local abbey -- she envisions a time of abstinence and piety. The monks, however, are a randy lot and her assigned roommate Sybil quickly teaches her the ins and outs of their erotic rituals -- much to the delight of Father Luc and her voyeur lover, Hyde Fortune.

A marvellously entertaining and beautifully written tail of lust and love in 19th-century America.