The Lady Has a Past

While Quick’s final Burning Cove romance (after Close Up) wraps up its central mystery a bit too neatly, devoted readers will delight in revisiting the glamorous 1930s setting and picturesque California town. Lyra Brazier leaves her life in San Francisco to join her sister, Vivian, for a fresh start in Burning Cove. Her disarming ability to get people to reveal their secrets through casual conversation lands her a job at Kirk Investigations—and comes in handy when her boss, Raina Kirk, disappears. Joining Lyra in investigating is Simon Cage, an antiquarian book dealer who works for Raina’s mysterious boyfriend, Luther Pell, to solve mysteries the FBI can’t crack. Upon learning that Raina was last seen at a luxury spa in the California desert, Lyra and Simon book a room, posing as man and wife in a ruse that sparks real intimacy and heat between them. Simon’s paranormal ability to sense emotions in objects, meanwhile, leads the pair to realize that Raina’s disappearance may be linked to a serial crime spree. The solid romantic suspense plot flies by fast as Quick leaves the final pages to check in on all the other characters readers have come to know in Burning Cove. This is a gift for series fans. [em]Agent: Steve Axelrod, the Axelrod Agency. (May) [/em]