Author Riccardo Cordileon, who spent 20 years as a management consultant in Manhattan, traveled often to the cultural mecca of New Orleans, loving its mix of Cajun-Creole culture, Southern charm -- and the spellbinding antics of tourists and conference-goers set free on raucous Bourbon Street and the ravishing French Quarter. New Orleans offered the relief he needed to get away from New York and find a city big enough to explore, filled with real people, and beholder of incessant romance and mystery.

Emerald Dress Seduction takes place in pre-Katrina years, before the city was so cruelly devastated by a storm that knew no mercy. Riccardo had mourned the city's loss, but believed its recovery would be quick and its magnetism forever compelling. His belief comes true in his novella - a story of surprise, romance and two strangers who meet by chance, then take chances.