Ashley Montague wanted to become a cop, like her father before her. She studied hard and had no time for relaxation. This was why when a long week-end offered the opportunity to relax together with her best friends Karen and Jan, Ashley was ready to go. In her hurry, she bumped into and poured hot coffee on a very attractive Police Detective.

Jake Dilessio's partner, Nancy, had gone alone in her desire to solve a mystery. Her slightly unethical approach had left her without backup and she had been killed in a way that suggested suicide. Five years later, Jake was still searching for the perpetrator. For him it had been clear that suicide was not an option. Nancy was . . . had been such a vibrant, life-loving person. He was obsessed with finding the culprit, but even now, five years after Nancy's death, Jake was nowhere close to solving the mystery. Ashley's "coffee-attack" had only one effect--to attract Jake's attention to the bright woman with the red hair.

Ashley's promotion into a position to influence the direction of the old investigation, reawakened by the discovery of a new victim, made her rub elbows with the over-protective detective more often than she thought was healthy for either of them.

The attraction between the two made a difficult personal relationship evolve into a difficult work relationship. Ashley thought that Jake was still in love with Nancy and because of that, she wanted to prove herself as capable and as devoted as the dead lover, while Jake wanted only to keep Ashley out of harm's way.

The tension escalated by the growing suspicion that nothing was as it looked, and, slowly, even the most innocuous incidents were enveloped by mystery and suspense. As one of the real suspects had said, all was just illusion--smoke and mirrors--and up to the very end it was a major question: who to trust in this game of life and death?

Heather Graham, again, proves her mastery in this Romantic Mystery, in which the plot thickens and love grows by jumps and leaps. Her talent to send you, the reader, on false trails only to bring you back to a satisfactory ending makes her novel a wonderful pastime when you do not want to do anything but read a captivating book. You will be captivated from the beginning to end.

Reviewed By: Raluca Popov
© JULY 2004