Partners in Crime

Rai (First Comes Like) continues her hot streak with this delightful action-packed rom-com/caper mash-up full of jewel heists, sizzling hot sex scenes, and high-stakes backroom poker games. Mira Patel ran from her family’s less-than-legal life in Las Vegas when she was 18. Now she’s settled down in California and hires a matchmaker to find love—but she screens out anyone she thinks might reject her for not coming from a “good family,” among them lawyer Naveen Desai. When Mira’s aunt Rhea dies and leaves her a mysterious note and the key to a storage locker, she learns that her estranged father stole a $10 million necklace from the crime lord Cobra. Complicating things even further, the lawyer handling Rhea’s estate is none other than Naveen, and when Cobra’s henchmen come after Mira, he winds up kidnapped right alongside her. Now they must work together to escape. Escape-room-loving, emotionally intelligent Naveen makes a delightful hero, and Mira’s progression from mild-mannered accountant to card-counting James Bond–style badass is by turns hilarious and thrilling. This is a must-read for romance lovers. Agent: Amy Moore-Benson, Meridian Artists. (Oct.)