Veena’s review of Against the Mark (The Raines of Wind Canyon, Book 7) by Kat Martin
Romantic Suspense published by Harlequin Mira 27 Aug 13
I’m happy to report that Ms. Martin hasn’t lost her edge and has delivered another winner in this series. We’re back in Los Angeles and this time Tyler Brodie is at the forefront of the investigation with his partner Johnnie Riggs from Against the Night. Haley Warren is visiting her aunt Ellie, hoping to make her peace with the death of her estranged father, when a curve ball from her stepmother has her seeking Tyler’s help to find the truth behind her father’s accident. There was a complicated relationship between Haley and her parents. She loves them, but she refused to speak to her father when he divorced her mother and married “another” woman and moved to Los Angeles. We just forget how short life really is and how important relationships truly are and how blind we sometimes are when our parents are involved. Haley totally judges her stepmother by her cover and she really can’t understand what her father sees in this plump, motherly woman who is so unlike her own fashionable mother. Being not quite slim and beautiful, it is heartening to see that men do see beneath the outside to the inside, as Haley herself discovers.
Of course, there are other mysteries to unravel. Who would target her father and why. What was so big that he could be killed in a professional way such that the police investigation would close it as an accidental death with no questions asked. Haley is almost certain that perhaps her stepmother’s imagination and grief are making her father’s death more than it is, but that’s put to bed when suddenly Tyler and Haley are targeted to keep them from continuing on the trail.
As the suspense builds and the masks start to come off, it is quite interesting to see that corruption and extreme wealth go hand in hand. Tyler continues his investigation and the body count continues to rise. I am always fascinated at human characters and how it is the extremely wealthy who value life so little when compared to preserving their wealth and secrets.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the suspense as well as the romance between Haley and Tyler. The secondary romance as Ellie also finds her second chance at love is beautifully woven in and the piece de resistance is the Hollywood style marriage at the Beverly Hilton hotel.
I started off a bit skeptical about this book. We’ve met Tyler before and I thought it would be a bit of what we’ve already seen, but set in L.A. instead of Texas, by the time I finished this book, I am a raving fan again.
Grade: A
Summary:
The perfect murder is a work of art …In one catastrophic instant, Haley Warren’s estranged father was taken from her. She never got the chance to reconnect with him, so now she’s doing it the only way she’s got left: by proving the explosion that killed him was no accident.
When Tyler Brodie, the provocative and handsome P.I. hired by Haley, discovers that her father was investigating a suspected art theft, he knows his death is no coincidence. After all, tens of millions of dollars worth of stolen art could motivate a thief to go to any lengths including getting rid of anyone poking around where they don’t belong.
As Haley and Ty get closer to the truth, the truth gets ugly: Did Haley’s dad know too much ?or was he in on the take? And although Ty’s a consummate professional, he’s having trouble focusing on the facts of the case, and not the figure of his gorgeous client. The two are determined to get to the bottom of the case, even if it means they die trying.
Other books in this series:
