"Explosive Romantic Suspense"

Robards' latest romantic suspense novel ripples with chills as suspense as a serial killer re-emerges after a long absence. Reporter Nicky Sullivan returns to her native Pawley's Island, South Carolina, to film a segment for her Chicago news show. She visits an abandoned mansion, the site of the brutal murder of teenaged Tara Mitchell fifteen years ago. As the crew begins filming, with the presence of Nicky's mother, psychic Leonora James, frantic screams pierce the air, and murder makes a reappearance at the mansion.

Local Chief of Police, former New Jersey vice cop Joe Franconi, seeks to solve the murder before the killer strikes again. As romance heats up between Joe and Nicky, he fears for her safety, as she is determined to finish her news segment at the mansion, despite receiving threatening messages from the killer.

Sultry summer nights provide the perfect setting for this eerily chilling novel, complete with ghosts and a sadistic killer. The romance heats up alongside the terrifying suspense, leading readers to a nail biting explosive conclusion.

Reviewed by Sheri Melnick
Posted August 22, 2005

Sparks fly between a police chief and a reporter who are thrown together when a brutal killer comes out of hiding after fifteen years.

Summary

Pawleys Island, South Carolina. Sunny, idyllic, and picture perfect, until a tabloid news program airs a splashy segment about the community's only unsolved murder—the grisly stabbing of teenager Tara Mitchell and the subsequent disappearance of her two best friends, both thought to be long dead. In the years since the murders, several families have moved into the mansion where the crime occurred, each claiming that the dead girls still haunt the house. Beautiful redheaded reporter Nicole Sullivan, sensing the story that could be her big break, arranges for her mother, a renowned psychic, to contact the three victims via a live séance on the show Twenty-four Hours Investigates.

But something goes terribly wrong during the segment, and a young woman is murdered in the exact same manner as Tara Mitchell was fifteen years earlier. Pressured by her producers to get the inside story, Nicole is ordered to continue to investigate. As an attraction grows between Nicole and police chief Joe Franconi, another identical murder occurs, along with a menacing note warning that the original killer is back to claim three more lives. The body count rises, and so does the danger to Nicole, who is attacked, barely escaping with her life. She and Joe are forced to join forces as it becomes clear that the killer has set his sights on Nicole as his next victim.