"Bombshell at it's best!"

ARGH!!! Why did Harlequin kill the Bombshell line? The Madonna Key series is dynamite! This is the first book in the series, and those coming are every bit as brilliantly conceived and realized.

Catrina Dauvergne is the curator of a museum, while trying to balance her personal life and its problems. Her biggest concern at the moment is her grandmother is dying. Just when she thinks her life cannot get more stressful, the ground beneath her feet begins to crumble -- literally. Caught in the middle of an earthquake in Paris, the ground opens up under her. Okay, things are going down hill (excuse the pun!) fast for Catrina, surely it cannot get worse? Wrong. The whole she tumbled into gives her a shock. There are five bodies -- skeletons. They had been beheaded and with them are special keys that set her on a wild adventure. When Caterina touches a key, she is assaulted by visions of a past life during the turbulent French Revolution. Unable to understand what is happening to her, she turns to Rhys Pritchard.

Rhys was formerly a priest, but is presently an archaeologist, and is one of the few people who can translate the strange religious etchings she found. They naturally have a strong attraction, but Catrina is hiding the fact she once stole a Medieval Grail type chalice from Rhys' friend. Despite this uneasy relationship, they are propelled to work together to solve the riddle of the Madonna Keys. They are catapulted into a breakneck adventure as someone is determined to possess the keys and their secret, and will stop at nothing to get them -- even killing Rhys and Catrina.

The pace is manic, fascinating, mesmerizing setting up the other books in the series by such amazing talent as Carol Stephenson and Jenna Mills. This is Bombshell at its very best -- and a sad statement on the lack of vision on a company that dumped this line.

Reviewed by DeborahAnne MacGillivray
Posted February 21, 2007