"Sizzling Romantic Suspense"

Ms. Robards is at the top of her game with her latest novel packed with a touch of humor, plenty of steamy romance, and eerie suspense. Philadelphia attorney Christy Petrino is hoping to get some semblance of normality back into her life after she learns that her former fiancé Michael, head of her law firm, is using his business as a front to launder mob money. With a promise to mobster Uncle Vince to make a delivery of a briefcase at Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, Christy hopes to free herself and her mother and sisters from the mob's undue influence.

Poor Christy soon realizes that not only is the mob after her, but a serial killer wants her dead after she sees his latest victim along the beach shortly before the killer slits the victim's throat. With the help of buff beach neighbor Luke Rand (who is secretly an FBI agent), Christy manages to escape the deadly clutches of the killer in several pulse-pounding episodes. Feeling guilty for using Christy as bait to snare Michael, Luke tries to avoid his attraction to her while attempting to get along with his fellow agent and polar opposite, nerdy Gary.

Christy's assertion that someone is watching her is never ending as she feels that she can't even trust the local sheriff to protect her. Feeling safe only in Luke's arms, the two embark on a sizzling affair that threatens to go bust when she discovers his true identity. Fast-paced thrills and chills with sensual romance will keep readers glued to the pages, despite Luke's endless assertions that he can't understand why other bikini clad women don't attract him as Christy does.

Reviewed by Sheri Melnick
Posted September 16, 2003

Summary

Christy Petrino hadn't planned on a vacation on Ocracoke Island, but when she learns her fiancéé and boss, suave Michael DePalma, is a "made man" and the Philadelphia law firm where she works is a front for the mob, she breaks her engagement and quits her job. But no one walks away from the DePalma family business so easily....Only if she delivers a locked briefcase to a motel on Ocracoke Island will she—and her mother and sisters—be free.

But after clandestinely making her drop-off late at night, Christy suspects she is being followed on the moonlit beach— and unwittingly runs into a new kind of terror. Now a witness at the center of a homicide investigation, Christy learns the police are hunting a serial killer they refer to as the "Beachcomber" because beautiful young women—women who in fact resemble her—have disappeared recently while vacationing at nearby beach communities. Christy doesn't know whom to fear more—a serial killer who believes she might be able to identify him, or the DePalma family, whose tentacles she can't seem to escape.

Only when she's with Luke Rand, her big surfer-dude next- door neighbor, does she feel safe. But with Luke's asking so many questions about her ex-fiancéé and his showing up almost too conveniently whenever danger strikes, she can't help but wonder if his interest in her is due to more than sexual attraction. Can she trust this handsome stranger to help her survive a hot and deadly summer?