"Upbeat and charming amateur sleuth mystery"

When Maggie Kelly's romance writing career tanked, she started authoring Regency mysteries starring Viscount St. Just Alexandre Blake and his loyal and gentle sidekick, Sterling. She became a bestselling author, winning many awards until the unbelievable happened. St. Just and Sterling popped out of her mind and into her apartment as real people who others see and talk with. She allowed them to stay at her apartment but now they are moving next door to her neighbor's apartment.

While she is dealing with the empty nest syndrome, even if its only a few yards away, Maggie's closest friend Bernie calls her up in a panic. Her husband believed lost at sea is in her bed, dead and covered in blood from a knife wound. Maggie and St Just arrive on the scene to see that Bernie is soaked in blood, the murder weapon is one of her own knives, and she has no memory of the night before. The DA, who is running for reelection, believes Bernie is his ticket to another term in office while Maggie, St. Just and Sterling, along with a police officer attracted to Maggie, try to find the evidence that will clear Bernie.

Readers will find themselves believing that the heroine thought St. Just and Sterling into existence. They are very believable because they act as if they came from Regency England. It is impossible to figure out who the real killer is until the author chooses to reveal him and it will come as a total shock. Kasey Michaels, known for her upbeat and charming amateur sleuth mysteries, has written another winner, one that will garner her more fans than she already has.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted August 9, 2004