Night Echoes

Romantic suspense twines neatly with the paranormal—and without a single vamp or were-creature—in Lisle's latest, a chilling haunted house mystery that pits a sensible couple against the supernatural. Following the death of her adoptive father, artist Emma Beck leaves Wisconsin and buys a "falling-down, money-pit, creepy-ass" Civil War-era house in Benina, S.C., the hometown of her deceased biological mother. When Emma meets local handyman Mike Ruhl, the attraction between them is instant and strangely evocative, almost as if they already know each other—intimately. Soon, strange noises, unprovoked feelings of terror, a phantom cat and her own overactive libido have Emma spooked, a feeling that only deepens when she tries looking up two women who knew her mother and finds instead two fresh corpses. Lisle keeps pages turning with steamy sex scenes, disturbing revelations and a good old-fashioned ghost story, all building to a white-knuckle conclusion; it's more than enough to please romantic suspense fans and should make a satisfying treat for anyone burned out on bloodsuckers. (Apr.)