Historical Thriller published by Berkley 03 May 22
Maggie Lodge is a lucid dreamer who is estranged from her family. She hires PI Sam Lodge to help her solve the mystery of who’s writing threatening letters to Aunt Cornelia, an advice columnist who’s column she’s ghost writing. When an impersonator shows up at a convention on dreaming who Maggie had originally considered but then dropped, she and Sam are headed to Burning Cove to look for answers. Of course, the plot thickens and there are more questions than answers, once they arrive on scene.
Soon bodies are piling up, creating more questions and few clues, and Sam is being used by the local police to help, especially since he and Maggie seem to have the unique talent of being first on scene. There are plots and counterplots surrounding Maggie’s talent and plenty of people who would kill to acquire it. Unexpectedly the two receive some local help as they chase down clues and coincidences.
Ms. Quick’s books are not chest-thumping, red-hot chemistry romances, but the love story in this one seems more forced than most, though I found Sam’s character very interesting, especially his career as a homicide detective and a crash-and-burn love story. Clearly, there’s a killer on the loose, and, despite a lot of red herrings, the duo of Maggie and Sam will find the answers, leading readers on a nice, mysterious chase for whodunit, which emerges as quite the surprise.
All in all, a filler episode in the series, which I have definitely been enjoying as it unrolls.
Grade: C
Summary:
Return to 1930s Burning Cove, California, the glamorous seaside playground for Hollywood stars, mobsters, spies, and a host of others who find more than they bargain for in this mysterious town.
Maggie Lodge, assistant to the reclusive advice columnist known only as Dear Aunt Cornelia to her readers, hires down-but-not-quite-out private eye Sam Sage to help track down the person who is blackmailing her employer. Maggie and Sam are a mismatched pair. As far as Sam is concerned, Maggie is reckless and in over her head. She is not what he had in mind for a client, but he can’t afford to be choosy. Maggie, on the other hand, is convinced that Sam is badly in need of guidance and good advice. She does not hesitate to give him both.
In spite of the verbal fireworks between them, they are fiercely attracted to each other, but each is convinced it would be a mistake to let passion take over. They are, after all, keeping secrets from each other. Sam is haunted by his past, which includes a marriage shattered by betrayal and violence. Maggie is troubled by intense and vivid dreams—dreams that she can sometimes control. There are those who want to run experiments on her and use her for their own purposes, while others think she should be committed to an asylum.
When the pair discovers someone is impersonating Aunt Cornelia at a conference on psychic dreaming and a woman dies at the conference, the door is opened to a dangerous web of blackmail and murder. Secrets from the past are revealed, leaving Maggie and Sam in the path of a ruthless killer who will stop at nothing to exact vengeance.
No excerpt available.
Other books in this series:
