Verdict: A gold-standard lesbian mafia saga — if you want a sprawling, plot-driven crime family epic with a rock-solid central marriage, this is essential reading.
Best for: Readers who love organized-crime family sagas, established-couple romance, and butch/femme dynamics with real stakes.
Heat: 🌶🌶🌶 (3/5) — sensual and loving rather than explicit; the romance simmers alongside the crime plot.
Rating: ★★★★½ (4.8 average across 364 ratings — a beloved entry in a long-running series).
Tropes: Crime family saga · Established couple · Butch/femme · Loyalty & revenge · Slow-burn secondary romance · Cain Casey Series
If you are building out your shelf of morally-gray heroines, this one sits comfortably beside the darkest picks in our dark sapphic romance guide. Ali Vali has spent years earning a reputation as the go-to author for lesbian mob fiction, and Deal with the Devil shows exactly why.
What Is Deal with the Devil About?
Deal with the Devil is the third book in Ali Vali’s Cain Casey Series, following New Orleans crime boss Cain Casey as she works to forge an alliance with the Jatibon organization and keep peace among the ruling families. It is a story of power, loyalty, and the lengths a woman will go to in order to protect the people she loves.
At its heart, the book pairs Cain’s steady marriage to Emma with a new slow-burn romance between Cain’s associate Remi Jatibon and Dallas Montgomery, an actress who may not be exactly who she claims. When an old enemy surfaces bent on revenge, the danger closes in on everything Cain values most.
What Makes This Dark Mafia Romance Work
Ali Vali built her following by treating lesbian characters as full-blooded crime-saga leads, and this installment leans on the strengths that made the series a genre staple:
- A commanding lead: Cain Casey is the butch mob boss done right — ruthless in business, tender at home, and always three moves ahead of her enemies.
- Real marriage on the page: Rather than manufacturing drama between Cain and Emma, the book shows an established couple building a family under constant threat.
- Sprawling family politics: Alliances, betrayals, and multi-family maneuvering give the plot the scope of a proper crime epic.
- A parallel slow burn: Remi and Dallas add fresh romantic tension without overshadowing the central couple.
- High, personal stakes: The revenge plot targets what Cain loves most, keeping the suspense grounded in emotion rather than spectacle.
Book Synopsis
It is business as usual for crime boss Cain Casey as she maneuvers to form an alliance with the Jatibon organization and secure peace among the ruling families in New Orleans. Her new associate, Remi Jatibon, is a lot like Cain once was — a charming playgirl expanding her father’s empire on both sides of the law. When Remi meets Dallas Montgomery, an actress at a studio the Jatibons have just acquired, she discovers there is far more to Dallas than her press pages suggest.
Meanwhile, on the home front, Cain and Emma hope to conceive another child, and life is anything but routine. Unknown to them, an old enemy is resurfacing, bent on revenge against Cain — and determined to take the one thing she values above all else: her wife.
My Review
I came to this series expecting a gritty crime story and got something richer: a lesbian mob saga that treats its heroine like the lead of a prestige drama. Cain Casey is the kind of character who could carry ten books, and by the third she feels like someone you would follow anywhere. What struck me most is how confidently Ali Vali writes power — the boardroom scheming, the family loyalty, the quiet menace — without ever losing the emotional core.
The parallel romance between Remi and Dallas gives the book a fresh spark, and I appreciated that it never crowds out Cain and Emma’s marriage, which remains the steady heart of the story. If you love watching an established couple defend their family rather than a will-they-won’t-they, this delivers beautifully.
My one caveat is that this is very much part of a continuing saga. The plot threads carry across books and the ending leaves plenty open, so it rewards readers who commit to the series rather than those looking for a tidy standalone.
| Element | In Deal with the Devil |
|---|---|
| Central relationship | Cain & Emma (established); Remi & Dallas (slow burn) |
| Core tropes | Crime family saga, established couple, butch/femme, loyalty & revenge |
| Setting | New Orleans organized-crime underworld |
| Heat level | 3/5 — sensual, loving, not explicit |
| Series | Book 3 of 8, Cain Casey Series |
| Content notes | Violence, crime, threats to family; cross-book cliffhangers |
My honest note: This is not a self-contained romance — it is one chapter of a long crime family saga. If you start here without the first two books, some relationships and history will feel like you have walked in mid-conversation. Begin with Book 1 and the payoff is enormous.
How Spicy Is Deal with the Devil?
On the heat scale, Deal with the Devil lands around a 3 out of 5. The intimate scenes are warm and emotionally grounded rather than graphically explicit, reflecting the loving, secure bond between Cain and Emma and the building attraction between Remi and Dallas.
If you are coming for wall-to-wall spice, this is not that book — the tension lives in the crime plot and the loyalty between characters. But if you want romance that feels earned and tender within a high-stakes saga, the balance here is very satisfying.
Who Should Read This Book?
You’ll likely love it if: you enjoy organized-crime family sagas, established-couple romance, butch/femme dynamics, and a heroine who is equal parts ruthless and devoted. Fans of long, immersive series will find a lot to sink into here.
You may want to skip it if: you prefer standalone stories with tidy endings, need high explicit heat, or want to jump in without reading the earlier books — the saga structure really does reward starting from Book 1.
In short: this is a cornerstone of the lesbian mafia genre and a must-read for anyone building a serious sapphic crime-fiction shelf.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Deal with the Devil a standalone?
No. It is Book 3 of the 8-book Cain Casey Series, and the story arcs carry across the series. You can technically read it alone, but you will get far more out of it by starting from the first book.
Is Deal with the Devil a true sapphic romance?
Yes. It centers on lesbian lead Cain Casey and her wife Emma, with a second slow-burn romance between two women, Remi and Dallas. It is unambiguously sapphic crime fiction.
How steamy is Deal with the Devil really?
Moderately steamy — about a 3 out of 5. Intimacy is present and heartfelt but not graphic; the focus stays on the crime saga and the emotional bonds between characters.
Does Deal with the Devil have a happy ending?
The central marriage remains a source of strength, but as part of an ongoing saga the book leaves threads open and builds toward the next installment rather than tying everything up neatly.
Do I need to read the Cain Casey Series in order?
Strongly recommended. Characters, alliances, and history accumulate across the series, so reading in order gives every relationship and reveal much greater weight.
If You Loved Deal with the Devil, Read These Next
If Cain Casey left you hungry for more morally-gray heroines and crime-world romance, our dark sapphic romance guide is full of dangerous women worth meeting.
Craving more stories like this one? Deal with the Devil is just one pick from our full, data-backed roundup of the best WLW mafia romance books — a curated master list of sapphic mob, crime, and morally-gray romances with short reviews and links to every full breakdown. It is the perfect place to build your next dangerous-women reading list.
The Bottom Line
Deal with the Devil is lesbian mafia fiction at its most confident — a sprawling New Orleans crime saga anchored by one of the genre’s most iconic couples. It is not a quick standalone fix, but for readers ready to commit to a series, it is deeply rewarding. Check Deal with the Devil on Amazon →
The Eikna Overall Ranking
Within our WLW mafia romance rankings, Deal with the Devil earns its place as a foundational classic — the saga that proved lesbian crime fiction could be this epic, this tender, and this endlessly re-readable.
The Evidence Scorecard
Overall — ★★★★½ 4.5/5
- ✓ A cornerstone lesbian mafia saga with lasting appeal
- ✓ Iconic heroine and a rock-solid central marriage
- ✓ Sprawling, satisfying crime-family scope
- ✓ Best experienced as part of the full series
Romance — ★★★★½ 4.5/5
- ✓ Established-couple love that feels genuinely lived-in
- ✓ A fresh slow burn between Remi and Dallas
- ✓ Devotion and loyalty over manufactured drama
- ✓ Emotionally grounded rather than melodramatic
Characters — ★★★★★ 5.0/5
- ✓ Cain Casey is an unforgettable butch mob boss
- ✓ Emma grounds the story with quiet strength
- ✓ Rich, expanding cast of allies and enemies
- ✓ Villains with real menace and motive
Writing — ★★★★½ 4.5/5
- ✓ Confident handling of power and family politics
- ✓ Clean, propulsive prose that keeps pages turning
- ✓ Balances multiple plot threads skillfully
- ✓ Occasional saga-sized info to track across books
Emotional Impact — ★★★★½ 4.5/5
- ✓ High stakes tied to family and marriage
- ✓ Genuine tension when loved ones are threatened
- ✓ Warmth and loyalty make the danger land harder
- ✓ Deep payoff for readers invested in the series
Heat Level — ★★★ 3.0/5
- ✓ Sensual and loving rather than explicit
- ✓ Intimacy serves the emotional bond
- ✓ Lower spice than pure erotica-leaning titles
- ✓ Tension lives in the plot as much as the bedroom
Ending — ★★★★ 4.0/5
- ✓ Strong momentum toward the next installment
- ✓ Central marriage remains a source of hope
- ✓ Threads left open by design
- ✓ Rewards continuing the saga
Re-read Value — ★★★★★ 5.0/5
- ✓ Dense enough to reward repeat reads
- ✓ Beloved series fans return to again and again
- ✓ Rich cast makes rereads feel fresh
- ✓ A comfort-read cornerstone of the genre
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