"Terse romantic suspense"
Keith and Claire Malvern left Seattle to open up The Falls
Bed and Breakfast in Portfalls, Washington. Before the
couple actually opens the doors to their new establishment,
Keith apparently commits suicide by leaping off the
nearby "Jumper's" bridge. Claire refuses to believe her
spouse for ten years would perpetrate such a cowardly act
on her because he knew how hurt she was when her mother
killed herself, but she cannot persuade County Sheriff Nick
Braden to investigate what is to him an obvious suicide. A desperate Claire goes to a Seattle auction in which Nick,
doing this for his deceased wife, is for sale. She buys
him for $750, asking him to investigate with her what
happened to her husband. As they begin working together
and begin falling in love, a watcher pays close attention
to the duo just in case two more people must die. Though the story line takes the easy road involving Keith's
death and geography makes the culprit seem unreasonable,
romantic suspense readers will appreciate the tension that
the story line builds up to until the final climax. Keith
is a delightful protagonist feeling guilt over his wife's
death because even after several years he wonders why she
hid her cancer from him until it was obvious. Adding to
his feelings of guilt is that he falls in love with a woman
he knows is too vulnerable for a relationship at this
time. Claire is a bewildered heroine, who starts having
doubts about her deceased husband even as she feels shame
for desiring the sheriff. Karen Harper provides a fine
thriller, but this could have been a great relationship
drama. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted May 12, 2003
SummaryDON'T LOOK DOWN . . .
Early one morning Claire Malvern awakes to an empty bed --
and her husband missing. There is no trace of Keith
Malvern -- only an eyewitness who claims a man jumped off
the bridge at Bloodroot Falls in the middle of the night.
It is the spectacular waterfall that first drew Claire and
Keith away from their fast-paced, high-tech careers to
pursue the dream of opening a bed-and-breakfast in the
rustic lodge above Bloodroot River. But the dream becomes a
nightmare when Keith's body is found snagged in the river
rapids, his death ruled a suicide.
Claire knows her husband would never take his own life. But
local sheriff Nick Braden thinks her suspicions of foul
play are unfounded. Despite his skepticism, Nick and Claire
start digging into her husband's past . . . and what they
uncover paints a shocking portrait of what really happened
that September night.
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