"Two police procedurals in one"

Although her father is a drifter, a con man and a thief, she loves him anyway even though she wants no part of his life. Laine Tavish has made a new life for herself in Angel's Gap Maryland, running her own business and fixing up her home. Unfortunately her stable life begins to unravel when she is dragged into her father's latest scheme, a twenty-eight million-dollar jewelry heist.

The insurance company wants to recover the diamonds and hires private detective Max Gannon for the job. His search finds him in Angel's Gap where he meets Laine and falls instantly in love with her. When she finds out what Max is after, she agrees to help him provided her father goes free. Laine realizes she loves Max who reciprocates her feelings but if they are going to have any chance at a life together, she must find a way to return her father's half of the diamonds and stop a killer who wants her father's half in addition to his own.

In New York in 2059, Max and Laine's granddaughter Sammantha has written a book about their romance and the diamonds that were never recovered. She comes home after her book tour to find her home trashed and her house sitter dead. Lt. Eve Dallas of the NYPSD is the lead on the case and immediate see it doesn't look like an ordinary breaking and entering gone wrong. She thinks it might have something to do with the diamonds that were never found and subsequent evidence gathered with her new partner proves Eve's theory correct.

REMEMBER WHEN is really two novels in one with the common thread being the stolen diamonds. The first tale is a very exciting work of romantic suspense written in Nora Robert's fabulous writing style. The second part of the story is an exciting police procedural written in J.D. Robb's (Nora Roberts pseudonym) unique and realistically gritty style. Although the same person wrote both works, it feels as if two very different authors worked on the book. Readers who are not familiar with J.D. Robb's "In Death" novels will find themselves fans of the series and try to obtain the backlist.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted September 24, 2003

Summary

Laine Tavish is an ordinary woman living an ordinary life in the small town of Angel's Gap, Maryland, as the proprietor of Remember When, an antique treasures and gift shop. At least, that's what everyone in Angel's Gap thinks. They have no idea that she used to be Elaine O'Hara, daughter of the notorious con man Big Jack O'Hara. Or that she grew up moving from place to place, one step ahead of the law . . .

Laine's past has just caught up with her, though—in a very dramatic way. Her long-lost uncle suddenly turned up in her shop, leaving only a cryptic warning before dying in the street, run down by a car. Soon afterward, her home is ransacked. Now it's up to Laine, and a sexy stranger named Max Gannon, to find out who's chasing her, and why.

The answer lies in a hidden fortune-a fortune that will change not only Laine's life but also the lives of future generations. And danger and death will surround that fortune for years to come. Until New York City detective Lieutenant Eve Dallas gets on the case.

A thrill-ride of a novel that blends present-day romance and futuristic suspense, Remember When is a tale of deceit and secrets, of strong women and fascinating men-a brilliant combination of the incomparable talents of the two sides of Nora Roberts.