Cuban-American Romantic Suspense from Chanel Cleeton, THE CUBAN HEIRESS

[Originally published at New York Journal of Books]

“A tenderness for Cuban life and the way the island draws people back to their roots colors the determined women of this novel and the men who assist them. Cleeton’s characters offer a beautiful pairing of tenderness and passion, anger and revenge, courage and resolution.”

 

This lively and twisty suspense novel from Chanel Cleeton pairs the glamour and desperation of women’s survival in the Great Depression, highlighted with a delicious Cuban American flair. Occupying different parts of the magnificent luxury liner S.S. Morro Castle are two women whose secrets intertwine, and two determined thieves, one charming, and the other a clear menace. Cruise-ship entertainment may hide the dangers during daylight, but on the night decks, murder knows few bounds.

 

Elena Reyes, say one woman’s false documents. Her first mission on the boat is to retrieve a pistol that’s been smuggled aboard for her, thanks to other Cuban American allies. Her justofied rage is more than sufficient for the pistol’s use—but are her other skills enough to protect her?

 

New York heiress Catherine Dohan can flash emerald earrings and a massive diamond engagement ring while traveling with her wealthy fiancé and his small child from an earlier marriage, with whom she’s not supposed to interact. But when the earrings turn out to be as false as her persona, that’s another revelation about the supposedly wealthy man she’s engaged to.

 

When the charming and insightful Harry pays too much attention to Catherine, her hunger for romance and real affection flares into an uncontrollable response. And even though she can see the hard-scrabble career of seduction and theft that Harry juggles, the complications of the deception she is working mean she needs an alliance with this mysterious rogue.

 

She’s done her best to size him up: “Perhaps he’s hunting for a wealthy spouse as well … While I shouldn’t fault him, given my own ambitions, I won’t countenance anyone jeopardizing mine.” Prodded, though, she spits out her reality: “I like seeing people get what’s coming to them.” With Harry’s widened eyes, she instantly knows she’s made a mistake and revealed that she’s not the spoiled and pampered heiress she’s working so hard to portray.

 

Cleeton deftly alternates points of view between these two crafty, scheming women, and only gradually is the connection between them revealed: a fire, an abusive man, an escape. A false death certificate. And something about Raymond, the man Catherine’s engaged to.

 

As Harry becomes a more trusted ally, he shares his criminal insight with her: “There’s something about Raymond—a disregard for others, disdain for anyone he views as beneath him. … Whatever your game is, don’t think he doesn’t have one of his own.”

 

Cleeton, a Florida native with Cuban roots of her own, shows the skills she’s honed in four earlier romantic historical novels as she whips between the two women’s deceptions and risks. A tenderness for Cuban life and the way the island draws people back to their roots colors the determined women of this novel and the men who assist them. Cleeton’s characters offer a beautiful pairing of tenderness and passion, anger and revenge, courage and resolution. Not until the poignant final chapters will all the twists be satisfyingly revealed, with Catherine’s wish fulfilled: that people “get what’s coming to them.” And that includes the possibility of love, after all.

 

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here. 

Solve the Murder, Cancel the Curse: PLEADING THE FISH from Bree Baker

The seventh in the Seaside Café Mystery series, PLEADING THE FISH, sends Everly Swan into a desperate dive for research that may prove it's safe for her to marry Detective Grady Hays (and become Mama to his adorable son Denver).  Everly's long-established family in the seaside town of Charm, North Carolina, has far too many widows in it, and family lore says that the men chosen by the Swan women die quickly, struck by a historic curse.

The curse, if it exists, dates back to the original owners of the house that's become Everly's sweet-tea and gourmet food café. The place comes with a protective seagull and a hauntingly clever cat that Everly suspects could be those original lovers, hanging around to comfort and warn her.

But the dangers she faces, as an amateur sleuth motivated by love and loyalty, are very real and very much in the present. Series readers will sympathize when they notice that Everly is going to have to "make nice" with her childhood enemy Mary Grace in order to dig into what's motivating the small town's latest crime wave. Whoever is responsible clearly realizes that Everly is on the hunt—because the criminal keeps dumping seaweed and fish all over her vehicles, as well as threatening her directly on the town's gossip website.

No need to read the other six books in the series first—Baker does a nice job of  bringing in the pertinent details. But it will be a lot more fun if you already have, plus if this is your first peek into a Bree Baker book, beware! You may find yourself buying all the rest of the series, for a good summer of relaxing romantic suspense. 

"Bree Baker" is a pen name of Julie Ann Lindsey, whose website shows her other series. Perfect for a very feminine stack of books to sweeten the evenings. And, of course, PLEADING THE FISH comes with recipes at the end, this time including the famous Swan lemon cake, "to bolster a hero's heart."

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

Well-Written Romantic Suspense from Colleen Coble, A STRANGER'S GAME

Real-life romance comes with doubts and concerns, not just amazing kisses — and seasoned author Colleen Coble presents that kind of well-rounded romance once again in her new book A STRANGER'S GAME.

The premise is new and interesting: Torie Bergstrom is actually the working daughter of a wealthy and powerful resort developer, and she doesn't often come back to the the Georgia property where her mother tragically died. But when her best friend also loses her life at the Jekyll Island resort, Torie slips into place under cover to dig into what's happened. 

Her charming meeting with a little girl and her dad, Joe Abbott, who are rescuing baby turtles, gives her a break from the tensions of grief, undercover work, and the actual security position she's stepped into. But unless she reveals the truth about herself to Joe, how can they build a friendship, let alone the romance that keeps tickling her heart?

Yet the minute Torie resumes her usual identity, she's got multiple risks in play: that Joe won't continue the friendship (or more), that the killer, if there is one, will target her, and that her relationship with her father may suffer.

Coble allows a reassuring glimpse of Joe's own integrity, losses, and motives by alternating the narrators of the book -- he and she both have their turns. Joe, for instance, is getting to know Torie when she drops some Latin on him:

"Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur," Torie said.

Joe blinked, then grinned. "I took Latin too. 'One's friends are known in the hour of need.'"

A pleasant warmth spread from his midsection at the realization she considered him a friend. It was a start.

Torie in turn gets to do some questioning on her own, with her father:

She stared into his blue eyes. "Why did you never remarry, Dad? You must have had plenty of opportunities over the years. Mom's been gone eighteen years."

He moved restlessly. "I've always been wary of anyone with an agenda. And too many women who flirt only want what my money and position will bring. They never look past the name to really see me."

"That's exactly how I feel! I didn't know you had the same fears."

In highly satisfying scenes, with just enough risk and plenty of insight, Torie and Joe learn everything they need, in order to figure out who's the criminal, and why—and what their own future may be.

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here. 

Clever and Enjoyable Regency Mystery, TWILIGHT AT MOORINGTON CROSS by Abigail Wilson

At the opening of TWILIGHT AT MOORINGTON CROSS, many a mystery reader might guess at villainy: Mrs. Amelia Pembroke, a lovely young widow, is a long-term patient at Cluett's Mesmeric Hospital in Regency-period England. She's not getting better — her ailment involves falling asleep at moments entirely outside her control, along with some sort of seizure disorder. Mesmerism, of course, is another term for hypnotism; Amelia's not the only long-term patient here who seems stuck.

When the handsome young solicitor Ewan Hawkins arrives to help the hospital leader with a change to his will, the bequest directly concerns Amelia. To her astonishment, she is the main beneficiary of that will. But the conditions being pinned to this are, to say the least, astonishing: The widow must marry one of two candidates that Mr. Cluett has proposed, or else fail to receive the money. In fact, not only will she herself be tossed from her home at the hospital if she fails to make that marriage -- but the substantial inheritance will go to charity instead.

Amelia is appalled. The solicitor doesn't much sympathize -- he thinks Mr. Cluett was generous in giving her a choice of willing husbands, since a woman on her own couldn't possibly handle the bequest.

So who is the villain here? Is it Mr. Cluett, whose treatments have failed? Is it the solicitor, or one of the rather odd potential husbands? Could it be the long-term nurse who worked with the doctor? And which of these is responsible for the abrupt death, perhaps by murder, of Mr. Cluett as soon as an explanation of the will has been made?

The only people Amelia is sure are on her side are the other long-term patients, who have become her best friends. But when she accepts the young solicitor, Mr. Hawkins, as an ally in a suddenly ominously threatening institution, he's not as confident about any of the others:

I nodded and turned to leave but he grasped my arm: "Mrs. Pembroke, promise me one thing."

"Yes?"

"I need you to be careful."

"Of course I will, but—"

His fingers tightened. "I mean a great deal more so than usual. Lock your doors tonight. You might have a maid pull a trundle into [the neighboring] room if possible. And above everything else, don't trust anyone. Not until we know exactly who might be involved in Mr. Cluett's death."

Abigail Wilson's writing is smooth and deft, and her plot threads and red herrings are carefully placed. The story is lightly backed by Regency customs, and more so by the legalities of widowhood at the time, laid out effectively and without fuss. Both action and sleuthing are lively and believable, and the pace is well chosen.

All in all, TWILIGHT AT MOORINGTON CROSS presents a well-crafted romantic Regency mystery that's a delight to read, and may well lure readers to Wilson's other four titles in the same entertaining genre.

Released today under the Thomas Nelson imprint of HarperCollins.

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here. 

Brief Mentions: Mysteries from Kelly Irvin, Carrie Doyle, Cate Quinn

Trust Kelly Irvin for intense plotting that highlights the suspense in "romantic suspense." Her February release, HER EVERY MOVE (Thomas Nelson), pushes together a librarian and a detective when a bomb explodes during a climate change debate. Among deft red herrings and page-turning pressure, and with compelling attraction between them, Jackie Santoro and Detective Avery Wick turn the library's next event into an effective trap for a killer -- and a test run for their irrepressible need for each other's deep and intelligent attention. "Wick had an intensity that reminded her of sticking a bobby pin in a socket." Looking for a lively beach read? Grab this one.

There's something about a cozy mystery set at a rural inn that's hard to resist, especially when the innkeeper, Antonia Bingham, is an outstanding chef with abundant comments about the best gourmet delights. With DEATH ON BULL PATH (Poisoned Pen Press), the prolific Carrie Doyle expands her "Hamptons Murder Mystery" series. Antonia's forced collaboration with an obnoxious local journalist keeps her relatively safe and helps track down the killer in a pair of summerhouse murders ... but only a very last-minute discovery salvages her own romance with her movie-star crush, Nick Darrow. "You have a proclivity for danger," says her best friend.

If you look up author Cate Quinn online, you can get quickly confused, since her hefty thriller BLACK WIDOWS (Sourcebooks) gets labeled a debut, or a US debut, or her first thriller -- but actually she's an established historical fiction author in Europe. Thus, her plunge into Mormon polygamy for this thriller is an outsider's view of Utah and the American-origin religion with its powerful traditions. Telling a murder story from the points of view of three wives is a novel approach, but doesn't allow readers to follow the time-honored crime fiction task of assembling clues and working out the killer. So the book's a lively read (and hefty!), but won't satisfy genre fans.

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here. 

Deadly Envy in a Science Lab, in Cara Putman's LETHAL INTENT

What happens when you blend a legal issue with a cancer lab, terribly ill children, and faith-based romance? Answer: a suspense novel with intriguing layers of complexity, from long-time "romantic legal thriller" author Cara Putman, published by Thomas Nelson.

When attorney Caroline Bragg steps into a high-pressure job at a biotechnology firm developing cells that may fight children's cancer, she's got two huge things going for her: experience in the patent process and government regulations, and an abiding inner joy that has a lot to do with how Brandon Lancaster is telling her he wants her in his life always.

Her first challenge in the new job is to assert herself: Petite and not grounded in the science itself, she could be easily mistaken for a beginner. When the scientists try to rush into treatment without the proper protocols, though, she puts on the brakes -- and suddenly she's not as welcome as five minutes before, since the people around her really want to save children, not wait for the approved channels.

Making things more complicated in LETHAL INTENT, there's more going on under the surface of the biotech company, and the author slowly gives a reveal of a malicious but unidentified person willing to sacrifice those very children, for revenge on the company. Caroline's so busy trying to keep her ambitious boss on the legal straight and narrow that she's late in realizing there's more than accidental mischief happening.

Strikingly, she's also pinned by nondisclosure requirements, once she realizes her boyfriend is an investor in the company she's working for. Here's a sample of Putman's romantic writing from Caroline's point of view about Brandon:

Caroline pulled up the pictures and scrolled through several shots. She'd have a closer look later, but she liked what she saw: a man who looked at her with adoration. She could get used to it and wanted to bottle the moment so she could pull it out when she felt alone.

When te nights were dark and she couldn't sleep.

She wanted to remember what it felt like to have his hand covering hers.

Remember the feeling of security and lent strength.

Remember that he found her worth loving.

LETHAL INTENT will suit romance readers more than standard mystery fans, since although Caroline is strong and makes great decisions, she really has little chance to figure out what's going wrong in the treatment trials and the company's action, because Putman frames the book with a secret villain's voice and little in the way of outright clues. Still, it's a good read for a winter evening, sweet and strong at once, and very smoothly written.

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

Cryptocurrency, Face Blindness, and Family: Siri Mitchell's Crime Novel EVERYWHERE TO HIDE

She's doing what she has to do to survive: Whitney Garrison's made it through law school, as well as her mother's death and the stress of student loans piling up, and her two jobs—one in a coffee shop, the other as a tutor to prep people for high-stakes testing—are paying her way near the DC area while she waits for her own high-stakes test into a legal career and a job that can cover her debts.

Meanwhile, her abusive ex-boyfriend living in DC continues to terrorize her, if only as traumatic memories, she's lying to her dad about how well she's holding together, and the final straw lands: She witnesses a murder outside the coffee shop where she works.

Now Whitney's a target for the murderer, who needs to kill any witnesses. But what the shooter doesn't know, and what the detective on the case has a hard time understanding, is that Whitney's not able to see faces at all. She suffers from a condition called "face blindness" and even in the coffee shop, she can only guess at which of her co-workers is standing next to her, or whether a customer is a repeat one or a newcomer.

And in this condition, the killer could walk up to her and order a soy latte, and she'd have no idea that a threat to her life had arrived.

EVERYWHERE TO HIDE spins this terrifying situation into a compelling thriller, as the detective on the case begins to bond with Whitney, while the force of threat around her escalates. Even Detective Baroni has doubts about her safety, as it appears that banking secrets among her friends may have erupted in the murder.

My scalp began to tingle. It all felt too much like my last weeks in DC. I didn't want to have to look behind every corner again, didn't want to have to wonder if someone was out there somewhere, waiting for me. I thought I'd left all of that behind. It felt like a vise was tightening around my lungs as I pointed out Mrs. Harper's house.

"Am I in danger?"

"I wouldn't have thought it, but your friend's message is making me wonder. If I knew what it was he wanted to talk to you about, then I might know for certain. But I would say that until we figure this out, you're safer if you stay in crowds. With groups of people. .... I'm just trying to let you know how serious this is. Rather, how serious it might be."

Turns out it's way more serious than even the detective could have guessed, and the multiplying threats and attacks on her soon tumble Whitney into homelessness, threaten her jobs, and put her life on the line.

Author Siri Mitchell provides an end note about the cryptocurrency issue that turns out to be the crime's focus, and about face blindness, formally known as prosopagnosia. Most importantly, she offers a compelling picture of how vulnerable each of us is, and how we find and nurture our support systems—while at the same time presenting a page-turner of steadily rising tension. 

Looking for a fast, intriguing crime novel? This is a good choice. It's Mitchell's second work of contemporary suspense, but she's had plenty of seasoning in earlier novels that pressed the romance side and is clearly an experienced storyteller, ready to spin the plot and the stakes toward a memorable conclusion. 

[The publisher is Thomas Nelson, and the release date is October 6.]

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here. 

Brief Mention: CLOSER THAN SHE KNOWS, Romantic Suspense from Kelly Irvin

Kelly Irvin is best known for her Amish romance books, but she also has a set of romantic suspense thrillers, and her latest is CLOSER THAN SHE KNOWS. In a clever introduction of a career rarely featured in crime fiction, protagonist Teagan O'Rourke is a court reporter who writes the official records, and we meet her at a moment when her task is far different from the desk work -- she's been in a terrible accident and must protect the evidence traveling with her. Soon the book's revealed to be stalker suspense, with Teagan as the victim and her potential beloved, Max Kennedy, as a sometimes fumbling but determined ally.

Irvin's drive to forward the romance for the couple sometimes pushes scenes a bit off kilter -- when Max gets wounded, it's not the crime that's elucidated, but his passion for Teagan, as he whispers from his gurney, "All I could think about was you. ... Life is short." And Teagan's own inner dialogue about the crime is, "Not being able to take people at face value sucked the life from a person."

Readers of romantic suspense as a subgenre will find CLOSER THAN SHE KNOWS to work familiar ground; make sure the doors are all locked, though, because the stalker aspect is pretty creepy, and the number of victims escalates rapidly. Those looking for Christian-themed fiction may also want to pick this up, although the religious aspects are a bit basic and blunt. If we ever get to beach reading this year (six feet apart for those towels?), this book will fit into the beach bag nicely. Publication date is May 13.

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

Brief Mention: Colleen Coble, ONE LITTLE LIE, Romantic Suspense

Colleen Coble is an astonishingly prolific author, mostly of romantic suspense with a thread of church participation. In ONE LITTLE LIE, which seems to be the first book of a new series for her -- the Pelican Harbor Series -- Coble brings us Jane Hardy, newly appointed interim sheriff of a small waterfront town in Alabama. She's filling the shoes of her father, who's retired, but she gets the job unexpectedly and with no time to catch up.

Almost immediately, she's caught in a murder investigation, one that becomes increasingly creepy as at least one stalker seems to be involved. Coble's switches of viewpoint keep the reader more aware of the threat level than Jane Hardy is, which doesn't always work well in terms of plot twists and surprises. Everyone seems to be dropping hints all the time. On the other hand, this author is a master of suspense, especially of romantic suspense. Characters wonder about each other's thoughts and feelings all the time, even as danger heads their way.

Because it's clear from the start that Jane's past involves a cult, other aspects of the suspense are pretty obvious ... power struggles of the past will soon catch hold of her.

Whose lie is the dangerous one? Jane's? Her father's? The murderer's? Or even the premise of the cult itself?

If you enjoy feeling on edge all the way through a work of suspense, this one will suit you, while laying the groundwork for a sequel that's clearly in the pipeline.  Thomas Nelson released the book on March 3.

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.   

Updating the Sherlock Holmes Pastiche, with Historical Romance Author Sherry Thomas

There are many novels that take their inspiration from A. Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, filling literally shelves of the mystery collection here at Kingdom Books. They range from Nicholas Meyer's The Seven Percent Solution to Michael Chabon's The Final Solution, and to the marvelous series from Laurie R. King that follows Holmes into his "golden years" through the eyes and sharp mind of his young wife Mary Russell.

Now Sherry Thomas, noted author of historical romances, provides a startling new version of Holmes as detective -- one that, like a Shakespearean play, inverts the gender roles, while at the same time weaving in our very modern obsession with the inner world of the finest minds of an era. And of course, because it's from Thomas's pen, A STUDY IN SCARLET WOMEN (a play on the original detective's tale "A Study in Scarlet") is lush with possible romance and alluring sensuality.

But let's begin at the beginning, with a young woman named Charlotte Holmes, who lacks the emotions that her sister Olivia fully experiences, but who has intense and amazing gifts of observation and analysis. Trapped in the highly gendered and class-conscious world of Victorian England, Charlotte contrives an audacious way to escape her parents' control -- without fully understanding how hard life can be for a "ruined" young society woman untrained, undereducated, jobless, and on her own (by choice).

I'm an ardent fan of the original Holmes narratives, and I also appreciate a good twist in the retelling, as in this adept female view of detection. Thomas's careful structure to provide a base for not just one book but an entire series -- the Lady Sherlock Series -- slows this first book in its first half. But by the midpoint, the suspense is riveting, the romance pulse-pounding, and the twists of the great detective's origin are pushing the plot. I could hardly wait to discover how Thomas would introduce "Watson" into this damsel-driven structure ... and when I realize the arrival of morphed versions of Mycroft Holmes and the evil mastermind Moriarty, I laughed in delight.

Here's a taste from when Charlotte struggles to explain her personal handicap to the new friend who'll soon guide her into a detection career:

"I learned early in life not to practice it in public. Or in private, for that matter -- people I know well are as easily disconcerted by it."

"Practice what, Miss Holmes?"

"Discernment, I suppose." Charlotte took a deep breath. "I can tell more about you, for instance, than you would want me to know."

After savoring Thomas's clever twists of the original story -- and realizing how, as A. Conan Doyle did, she's going to explain the difference between the new fiction and its predecessor -- I'm hooked. I'll be looking for the next in the series, as soon as possible, and chuckling for the rest of the evening.

The book released today, with the warm blessing of fellow author Deanna Raybourn, from Berkley Books.

New on This Week's Bookshelf: Neggers, Child, French, Turner, and Briefly, Penny

I purchased these and they came by mail this week, so count on reviews over the next few weeks -- I'm also working on a stack of advance review copies of other titles, and I'll probably interleave the two categories. But I wanted to let you know what I picked up most recently:

HARBOR ISLAND by Carla Neggers. Few realize this gifted author of romantic suspense is a Vermonter ... her multiple series span several police forces and take place on two continents. This one features Sharpe and Donovan. I always know a new Carla Neggers mystery means a deft plot twist, likeable sleuths, and a satisfying ending. I buy these "for me."

But I also can't resist Lee Child's Jack Reacher series -- where the pace drives me into staying up half the night, and Reacher has just enough honor and vulnerability to keep me wanting to know more. So I've picked up PERSONAL. Can hardly wait. (US cover on left, UK on right.)

The most depth and provocative ideas are sure to come in the Tana French book in my stack, THE SECRET PLACE. French rotates protagonists in her Dublin Murder Squad series and makes it clear how directly the crimes and sins of the past impact the present.

Which leads me to my fourth acquisiton: from poet and Iraq war veteran Brian Turner, the new memoir, MY LIFE AS A FOREIGN COUNTRY. Dave and I are already gently competing on who gets to read this one first -- we're passionate about Turner's writing, and the way he shows us both war and the human heart. No, it's not a mystery ... unless you count the enjoyable investigation of how Turner carries revelation and suspense and meaning into his pages.

Now, back to those other books I've already savored and want to mention -- oh yes, one more quick tidbit. I've changed my mind about something I mentioned a couple of weeks ago: I'm not going to review Louise Penny's new Armand Gamache mystery, THE LONG WAY HOME, in any detail. I think Penny dropped a lot of items in this one that should have been woven more effectively into the book, and I'm not happy with the way she tipped a crime into a book that otherwise reads as a series of personal investigations into art and creativity. Fans of the series -- and I am definitely a fan! -- will want this anyway for the sake of the Three Pines characters, but I think it's best viewed as a draft of a better book she could have written. Those who explore her website or follow her newsletters know she's had a hard year personally, and I tip my hat to her for completing her work within the yearly publishing schedule that her fame now demands. Everyone deserves a "pass" at least once in a writing career, and I'll let this book slide without further comment.

Romantic Suspense in Ireland: Carla Neggers, DECLAN'S CROSS

A little more edgy than a "cozy," a little less did-I-lock-the-doors than a thriller -- romantic suspense fits into a comfort zone. DECLAN'S CROSS, from the deft Vermont/Ireland/Maine author Carla Neggers, provides an escape to the lush and rugged hills of the Emerald Isle. Following her usual path, Neggers centers the crime detection efforts on a pair of characters from her earlier books, this time FBI agents Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan. But she also weaves in other characters we haven't yet grown to know as well, like Julianne Maroney, in love with another Donovan brother and trying to get over it.

Julianne is in Ireland on impulse, expecting her two-week visit to connect her with the start of a marine lab and to give her a restored sense of independence. Emma and Colin, on the other hand, are wrestling with how their intermeshed careers can make room for a relationship -- not easy, especially since Emma still has confidences to keep from her family's art theft investigations.

But Colin in particular senses irregularities in the invitation that Julianne has accepted and the FBI agents head across Ireland to check things out. And when a murder (thinly disguised as an accident) takes place within the marine lab situation, neither Colin nor Emma will leave the Irish village of Declan's Cross until Julianne is safe and the crime has been resolved. Emma may even need to bring her secretive grandfather into the solution -- and Colin isn't keeping any of this away from his brother in Maine, who's very worried for Julianne.

Cleverly plotted, with ample helpings of scenic luxury and warm generosity of heart, DECLAN'S CROSS is a gem of a diversion from winter's arrival and the holiday stresses. No need to read the previous title in the series (Heron's Cove) beforehand, but for a special treat, pick up both at once and indulge.

Carla Neggers, THE WATERFALL: Vermont Suspense With a Glimmer of Romance

Life gets complicated. And tough. And challenging.

So, thank goodness for Carla Neggers. In her three or four active suspense series, I can depend on an adventurous, savvy protagonist who'll make smart choices in her world, take risks but not for the sake of risk alone, and see the community around her as worthwhile, for its friendships, beauty, creativity, and intelligence. (I'm thinking particularly of Heron's Cove and Saint's Gate among her recent titles.)

This season, Neggers and Harlequin have collaborated to bring back into print THE WATERFALL, her 2000 title set mostly in Vermont, featuring young widow Lucy Blacker Swift and her two children, as well as international security expert Sebastian Redwing. In explaining the decision to re-issue the book, Neggers mentioned earlier this year that it was, for many of her readers, the book that first drew them into the special form of suspense novel that she crafts.

Lucy's situation is complicated, of course: In the three years since her young husband's unexpected death, she's left behind the political rush of Washington, DC; established her own adventure travel company; and now is trying to help her restless daughter adjust to rural life, when her father-in-law keeps offering to host a return for the teen to the posh world of the city. Her son is younger, and more willing to enjoy country pleasures. Things are almost going well for all of them, though, when a string of violent attacks on their home banishes the sense of security Lucy has worked so hard to craft. That's what takes her in search of Sebastian, a man her late husband had told her to consult if danger ever arose. But -- sigh -- Sebastian is complicated, too, enmeshed in something from his past that's dark and unforgiven and, oddly, seems to be connecting to whoever is attacking Lucy and her family.

Sorting out the threats and dealing with them will take forms of courage that Lucy and her family don't expect to have -- but, when challenged, prove able to summon. And when the best people work together in the best ways, it's not surprising that Carla Neggers shows how their actions lead to a highly satisfying conclusion.

Highly satisfying after such complicated, tough, and challenging plot moments -- and a huge relief from those same real-life stresses. Count on Neggers for an ending that puts life back into proportion, even as winter arrives, the holidays are steaming toward us, and everyone's expectations tangle up with the slow recovery from the Great Recession.

Oh, yes -- thank goodness for Carla Neggers. And THE WATERFALL.