Sunday, September 2, 2007

Suspect-Jasmine-Cresswell

Suspect
Jasmine Cresswell
Mira, Oct 2007, $6.99
ISBN: 9780778324775

Being a divorce lawyer Liam Raven is skeptical when it comes to relationships. However, his affluent father’s bigamy stuns even cynical Liam who had believed he heard everything from couples. Apparently his dad Ron had a household here in Wyoming and one in Atlanta for twenty-five years with kids in both cities. While his families, the Ravens and the Fairfaxes, are in the media fish bowl, Ron is MISSING.

Liam is elated to have a client Chloe Hamilton to distract him from his family issues as he has no idea how to help his distraught mom or his sister although the latter seems to have found a distraction in of all people a Fairfax. Chloe expects to be charged with first degree murder of her spouse, Denver Mayor Jason Hamilton. However, the case ties back to his family as the victim was a business crony of Ron’s partner and apparent the other brother-in-law Paul Fairfax. As Liam fights his attraction to his client, he obsesses with proving her innocence by seeking the real culprit.

Although lawyers acting like investigators especially on a capital case seem a stretch, readers will enjoy the exciting romantic suspense thriller SUSPECT, the second Ravens and Fairfaxes tale. The story line is action-packed and fast-paced as Liam and Chloe fall in love while he does field work to uncover the killer’s identity. As these type of cases are emotionally draining on lawyers without falling in love and take up enormous amounts of time (except in Texas), romantic suspense fans will appreciate the strong tale due to the fine lead characters, but also know his actions seem implausible. Still this is a fun thriller and PAYBACK is coming.

Harriet Klausner

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