An Honorable Man-Darlene Gardner

An Honorable Man
Darlene Gardner
Harlequin SuperRomance, May 2010, $5.50
ISBN: 9780373716364

Almost two decades ago, Alison Blaine fell to her death while in Indigo Springs in the Pocono Mountains. Everyone assumed her death was a tragic accident, which is what her then twelve year old son Ben Nash was told and accepted.

Now a Pittsburgh Gazette investigative reporter Ben Nash has no reason to think otherwise about his late mom’s tragic death nineteen years ago until an e-mail arrives strongly implying that Dr. Ryan Whitmore should have been investigated but was not; the tone implies a homicide occurred and not an accident as he believes. Ben has no reason why anyone would kill his mom or why someone would send an email with Blaine in the address at this time or as a sick joke. Unable to ignore the implications, Ben goes to Indigo Springs to learn the truth. When he meets the late doctor’s daughter Dr. Sierra Whitmore, his attraction to her makes him reconsider whether he needs the truth at the cost of their growing relationship. She feels the same way as he does, but also wants to also protect her deceased dad’s reputation.

The key to this complicated investigative romance is the lead couple’s needs involving their respective parents. Ben obsesses with knowing what happened to his mom while Sierra fixates on protecting her father’s reputation. Each comes across as real with genuine desires, which makes for a fabulous contemporary drama as both characters and readers become consumed with knowing what happened nineteen years ago.

Harriet Klausner