Good girls do . . . very well

REVIEWS BY SANDY HUSEBY

Horatio Alger meets Cinderella in Hester Browne's debut, The Little Lady Agency, a cheeky girl's guide to finding romance and rewards. Melissa Romney-Jones strikes out on her own after being sacked during a corporate downsizing. Inspired by her former home ec teacher, who has started an escort service, Mel jumps into building a business of her own, using her considerable social skills and her new, braver alter ego, "Honey," to teach London's bachelors how to charm the ladies. With the help of Nelson, her loyal roommate, and Gabi, a former coworker who leads her back to the corporation and Jonathan, its new, American division manager. Mel faces every challenge, rising to the occasion when Jonathan needs her services, and when her own family hires her to plan her sister's wedding. But her desire for the respect she deserves, from clients and family alike, leaves Mel wondering who the real Little Lady should be—her or Honey.


A head case

Investigating a killer who decapitates his victims challenges FBI special agent Maggie O'Dell in Alex Kava's A Necessary Evil. Her mentor, psychologist Gwen Patterson, has her own suspicions about the case, suspicions that circle around one of her patients. When Maggie is assigned to another tough case, the flight from D.C. to Omaha takes her from murdered Jane Does to trailing a possible serial killer of priests. Investigating the murder of Monsignor O'Sullivan brings her into the world of Vatican dealings with the scandals of pedophile priests. Maggie is also brought face-to-face with her old love, Nick Morelli, and the unfinished past between them. Now a district attorney, his good friend is a priest with his own secrets to keep. As the investigation deepens, the web spun by a mysterious Game Master draws in family members and brings from hiding a villain from Maggie's past. Kava proves her mastery of the thriller as she adroitly draws seemingly disparate threads together in a tautly woven fabric of intrigues.


The vamp who cries wolf

She thinks of herself as a finder of trouble. Now, Riley Jenson, half werewolf, half vampire, must find her missing twin, Rhoan. Riley isn't officially a hunter, although she works for the Directorate of Other Races in Melbourne, an organization dedicated to protecting mere humans from the dangers of supernatural beings. In Keri Arthur's fantasy romantic suspense novel, Full Moon Rising, the vampire Quinn becomes Riley's ally in the hunt for Rhoan. Soon, the potential for romance blooms, despite Riley's unique full moon werewolf needs and Quinn's distrust of females. Rhoan's disappearance is linked to the mission he was on for the Directorate, and Riley continues his pursuit of of the mastermind behind a scheme to make vampire and werewolf clones. The vivid fantasy world Arthur creates amid everyday Melbourne, Australia, provides shivers of fear and delight.


A lady pirate meets her match

Swashbuckling and brash as The Adventuress, the ship she commands, Istabelle O'Bannon sails the seas in pursuit of the pirates and brigands who steal from those who have least. Istabelle has had her own greatest treasure stolen by Horik, and she's determined to avenge that with the help of her cousin, Mangan, the heir to an earldom. But Mangan has his own plans which require remaining cloistered in a monastery, so he sends mercenary Ruark Haagen to help her in Sasha Lord's boil-the-waters historical, Beyond the Wild Wind. In the man's world of buccaneering and marauding adventure, Ruark doesn't know what to make of Istabelle's indomitable determination to fight against, then beside, him, but the womanly side of Istabelle's warrior spirit ensnares his restless nature and has him thinking of a future together. The age of pirates and the Robin Hood-esque swordplay and thievery sizzles in this steamy page-turner of passionate magic.


Paris is burning

She's Paris Garrett, determined to be the renowned songbird her daddy envisioned. He's Joshua Grant, a down-at-his-heels ex-lawman stuck with an inherited opera house. Keeping the venue is another matter—one that will require a wife, right away. The Wild West lives up to its billing in Beth Ciotta's charming romantic comedy Lasso The Moon. Paris demonstrates her pluck by escaping from overprotective family members who think they know what's best for her. Joshua can't believe his luck when the gal who could solve his inheritance problems turns out to be the wife of his dreams. This is a delightful shoot-out of a romance, a good ol' fashioned tale of high-spirited fun.


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