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September 30, 2009
Harlequin Enterprises/Silhouette Romantic Suspense #1582
Category Romance
Romantic Suspense
Mass Market Paperback and eBook
Rating: 4.5
Muirinn O’Donnell is a highly successful, pregnant journalist who just returned from her latest research trip to find her grandfather, Gus, has died under suspicious circumstances. She never wanted to return to her hometown in Safe Harbor, Alaska but now she’s back. When she finds evidence that there may have been a conspiracy around Gus’s death, connecting it to a blast in the mines that killed her father twenty years ago, someone will stop at nothing to prevent the information from getting out.
Jett Rutledge is a brush pilot who long ago loved Muirinn with all his being. But Safe Harbor was his home and he refused to follow Muirinn as she chased her dreams. When she returns, he knows his simple life is about to be turned upside down, especially when she starts stirring up trouble with her investigation. Jett can protect her, but both of them have secrets better left unrevealed. However, passion intervenes and these two find themselves caught up in a Cold Case Affair.
Loreth Anne White has written an engrossing romantic suspense novel full of passion and danger, and the charm of Alaskan town life in Cold Case Affair. Mystery and intrigue abound as Muirinn investigates what happened to Gus and what really happened in that mine so many years ago. Intensity ratchets higher the closer Muirinn gets to finding the answers she so desperately seeks. While I suspected who was behind the murderous bomb in the mine shaft from early on in the story, I really hoped it wouldn’t be who I thought it was since I was so sympathetic to the killer and their plight. That shows true talent when a writer can make us love the bad guys as much as we love the good guys, understanding what drives them to the acts they choose.
I will admit, I’m not usually a fan of the “Big Misunderstanding” and/or “Secret Baby” plot devices, but Loreth makes both work in a believable way in Cold Case Affair. As much as I wanted to smack Jett and Muirinn a time or two for just not coming out with it and revealing their secrets, I felt for them and completely understood their reasons for keeping such important details to themselves. I especially liked the unique spin Loreth uses to make the two secrets mesh so seamlessly, putting her own spin on the themes.
Muirinn and Jett are such a perfectly imperfect couple, both with stubbornness in spades. The spark between them has had over ten years to smolder, never dying, flaring again to brilliant vibrant life as soon as these two reluctant love birds come in contact again. They have much to learn about what it means to really give yourselves, body and soul, to another for safekeeping, but we know that as soon as they can overcome their past, they will be strong enough to face down the worst of their demons… together.
I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Safe Harbor in Cold Case Affair and I look forward to future adventures in the Wild Country series. Loreth Anne White has cemented her spot on my “must watch” author list and I can’t wait to see what she dreams up next.
© Kelley A. Hartsell, October 2009. All rights reserved.
~eHQ April 2008 Member of the Month~
