"superb paranormal romantic mystery"

The Raintree Clan has magical and psychic powers that they use to help each other and mankind. The Raintree gene is dominant so that when a human marries a Raintree; their children will have magical powers. Sanctuary is their home and they harness the power it contains.

Gideon goes home from time to time but he lives in Delaware where he is a police officer who has almost a hundred percent success in solving cases. The reason he is such a successful police officer is that he talks to the ghosts of the victims and they tell him who killed them. Gideon ordered world flies apart when he acquires a new partner Detective Hope Mallory. They are trying to catch a serial killer named Tabby, a blonde woman who kills with a special knife (a ghost told Gideon this). Gideon doesn't realize Tabby has been ordered to kill him and his cousin Echo before the summer solstice. They fall in love but the pragmatic Hope does not believe in magic while Gideon is afraid of love which means that their relationship is doomed unless they each have a change of heart.

The second Raintree novel is just as magical and enchanting as RAINTREE: INFERNO. The characters are well developed and the work the lovers have to do to avoid getting serious is quite amusing. Tabby is a great antagonist, a woman readers will love to hate. The police procedural aspects of this novel feel realistic and the storyline is fast paced and full of action. Linda Winstead Jones has written a superb paranormal romantic mystery.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted May 25, 2007

Summary

It's more than a last name; more than a notation on a family tree. It's a mark of destiny. Each family member has a special gift, an otherworldly talent.

Gideon Raintree, a homicide detective, can harness electricity and talk to ghosts. He will need to wield gifts he's kept hidden to solve his newest case—a relentless serial killer unleashed by the dark Ansara wizards. But first he must deal with his reaction to Hope Malory, his alluring new partner. he'd never planned on love in the midst of battle. With evil lurking at every turn, Gideon and Hope are in a race against time to save their love, their family—and their newly conceived child.