The Highlander's Desire-Margo Maguire

The Highlander's Desire

Margo Maguire

Avon, Jul 30 2013, $7.99

ISBN: 9780062122902



In 1720 Lachann MacMillan, who gave up on love when his beloved married someone else, arrives on the on the Scottish Isle of Kilgorra. Thus he and Lord Kilgorra arranged for Lachann to marry the latter’s daughter Catriona as his MacMillan clan gain a strong ally and he some land.



At Lord Kilgorra’s home, Lachann sees serving girl Anna MacIver, the lord’s stepdaughter. She rejects love and marriage as she saw what that did to her late mom. However, upon meeting Lachann, she yearns to be more than her cruel stepsister’s lackey while he also threatens the alliance by falling in love with the wrong sibling. Love places both their clans in peril from jealousy and loathing.



Although the Cinderella plot is not new, Margo Maguire refreshes the theme by placing the entertaining storyline in the early eighteenth century Highlands. Lachlann struggles between being Prince Charming and Laird MacMillan while Anna as Cinderella wants to believe in love but fears there will be no happily ever after for anyone.



Harriet Klausner

The Devil of Clan Sinclair-Karen Ranney

The Devil of Clan Sinclair

Karen Ranney

Avon, Jul 30 2013, $7.99

ISBN: 9780062242440



In 1868 London, Lady Virginia Traylor prays her sweetheart Macrath Sinclair arrives at the ball because her usually frowning father agrees to meet the man she plans to marry. When her beloved arrives, Virginia is at the happiest moment in her life until her father informs her she will wed Lord Barrett in front of her future mother-in-law, Enid the Countess.



One year later her husband dies from what his mom says was a bad heart leaving no heir. With her family in dire straits, Enid suggests Virginia visit wealthy Macrath the renowned inventor. Virginia tells him nothing about her horrific marriage or her father’s duplicity as they spend blissful weeks together. Then abruptly she leaves without a word; twice burned Macrath learns she carries his child; he wants his offspring but not the mom.



The first Wicked Widow Victorian romance is an engaging historical starring two fascinating but obstinate protagonists. Readers will empathize with Macrath even as he takes his son from the mother with the law on his side, while understanding Virginia’s desperate ploy yet question her morals with our twenty-first century ethics. Love has proven insufficient for this couple to form a permanent relationship.



Harriet Klausner

How To Lose A Bride In One Night-Sophie Jordan

How To Lose A Bride In One Night

Sophie Jordan

Avon, Jul 30 2013, $7.99

ISBN: 9780062033017



Annalise Hadley feels like she lives in a fairy tale when the seventh person in line for throne marries her. She is plain, crippled, illegitimate and unpolished yet the handsome Duke of Bloodsworth chose her. Only one year since her wealthy absentee father Jack Hadley claimed her and her three half-sisters (see Wicked In Your Arms, Wicked Nights With A Lover and Lessons From a Scandalous Bride now all four are happily married.



Traveling on a barge on their wedding night, Bloodsworth brutally takes her while displaying his scorn for the useless cripple. Next he smothers her with a pillow and finally tosses her into the sea.



Annalise survives her ordeal as she ends up at the estate of an Earl, Owen Crawford. He hires a Gypsy healer who helps Annalise recover from her ordeal and fixes her bad leg. Owen and Annalise fall in love though each has doubts; as he suffers from PTSD for what he did in India and she was almost killed by her spouse. Additionally both know legally she remains the married “property” of the influential wife killer.



The final Forgotten Princesses historical romance is an exhilarating entry as the amoral confident duke proves quite an adversary while the lead couple have plenty of doubts re their worthiness. Fast-paced, readers will want to know why the evil duke wed and murdered his bride in a few hours as Sophie Jordan says in the afterward How To Lose A Bride In One Night cleverly rewrites the end of the Chinese fairy tale The Beggar Princess.



Harriet Klausner

High Treason-John Gilstrap

High Treason

John Gilstrap

Pinnacle, Jul 30 2013

ISBN: 9780786030194



The Secret service hates protecting First Lady Anna Darmond as she takes risks that place her and them in dangerous situations as she loves to party. Accompanied by her protectors, Anna goes to the Wild Times Bar when a homeless person opens fire on her detail. FLOTUS disappears while several agents are dead.



FBI Director Irene “Wolverine” Rivers asks Security Solutions’ Hostage rescue Specialist Jonathan Grave to find Darmond as he trusts no one inside the Feds. At the same time DC cop Lincoln arranges to meet with Washington Enquirer reporter David Kirk on the deadly incident at Wild Times, but is murdered before they connect. Grave, his top gun Big Guy and his computer guru Venice begin the search for the missing First Lady, whose past is strangely shrouded’ while Kirk struggles to stay alive.



The latest Jonathan Grave high octane novel (see Damage Control) is an exhilarating thriller that never slows down from the moment the assault at the bar occurs until the final confrontation in Canada. Although the myriad of acronyms followed by their words (without using parenthesis) breaks up sentence flow, readers will appreciate this action-packed twister as Grave, Big Guy and several surprising helpers attempt a dangerous rescue north of the border without Federal support.



Harriet Klausner

Murder in Thrall-Anne Cleeland

Murder in Thrall

Anne Cleeland

Kensington, Jul 30 2013, $24.00

ISBN 9780758287915



Renowned by law enforcement and the public for solving homicide cases, Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Lord Acton, Michael, selects from the department’s lowest ranks Detective Constable Kathleen Doyle as his assistant mentee. When she loses Danny Capper, he remains calm while she feels embarrassed. Michael with so much experience is honing her innate skills knowing Kathleen will be a top investigator.



As the veteran and rookie work the murder of a horse trainer, Kathleen continues to err while Michael continues to forgive; and more homicides follow. Attracted to his apprentice and feeling she reciprocates; Michael becomes concerned with her safety as a viable threat to her surfaces so he grounds her to office duty. Attracted to her teacher and feeling he reciprocates; Kathleen becomes concerned with his safety as a viable threat to his life surfaces so she sets out on her own to keep Michael safe.



The first Acton and Doyle Scotland Yard mystery is an engaging whodunit though the romance supersedes the investigation. Still the storyline engages the reader as bumbling Doyle makes rookie mistakes while learning how to stay alive and avoid friendly fire accidents. With a surprising killer adding tension, fans, especially of romantic suspense, will enjoy this British police procedural.



Harriet Klausner

Vampires, Bones, and Treacle Scones-Kaitlyn Dunnett

Vampires, Bones, and Treacle Scones

Kaitlyn Dunnett

Kensington, Jul 30 2013, $24.00

ISBN 9780758272676



In Moosetookalook, Maine, Scottish Emporium owner Liss MacCrimmon Ruskin enjoys doing her civic duty by helping the town prepare for the All Hallows Festival. Her husband Dan as the safety inspector thinks otherwise because he and his wife know his work means tsuris.



Liss and Dan inspect the deserted Chadwick Mansion, once home to notorious gangster Blackie O’Hare and allegedly have interred corpses and buried loot. She notices lights on and he wants to insure it is safe for the public as the gala is in the haunted house. The recently married couple sees what they expect in the deserted old house though some items appear missing until the pair finds the corpse of her jailbird cousin Ned Boyd with bites on his neck and blood everywhere. Liss’ Aunt Margaret begs her niece to investigate her son’s murder. Though she prefers to stay out of the inquiry, blood is thicker than water.



The latest MacCrimmon amateur sleuth (see The Corpse Wore Tartan And Scotched, and Bagpipes, Brides And Homicides) is a delightful cozy as married life does not deter Liss from investigating the murder of her cousin. With viable suspects and rumors of cached stolen money, fans will relish this Halloween treat.



Harriet Klausner

Lady Anne’s Lover-Maggie Robinson

Lady Anne’s Lover

Maggie Robinson

Kensington Brava, Jul 30 2013, $9.95

ISBN: 9780758269102



In December 1820, Lady Imaculata Egremont regrets the scandals she created to anger her abusive father but not because of any pain it inflicted on her nasty dad who everyone thinks is a saint. Thanks to the London List tabloid and its owners Lord Gray and Evangeline Ramsay, she has a chance to start over. Thus she heads to Wales as Widow Anne Mont housekeeper to Napoleon War hero Major Gareth Ripton-Jones, who ironically lost an arm in an accident after he came home. On the trek she reads the Compleat Housewife that her benefactress Evangeline gave her and realizes she has no experiences at all for her position and cannot use her beauty as she conceals that from her new employer.



A drunkard, Gareth ignores his housekeeper’s lack of skills; but in spite of her unfashionable wardrobe and overall “plain” look, he knows she fails to conceal from him her beauty. Still it is her caustic tongue and even more caustic coffee that opens his eyes. As the Heiress and the Horseman begin a tryst and fall in love, he remains the only suspect in the murder of his fiancée.



This tongue in cheek Regency romantic suspense is a fabulous amusing yet taut sequel to Lord Gray's List (Lady Imaculata was a key secondary player and Major Jones placed an ad in the first novel). The lead couple’s bawdy banter counterbalances her daddy dearest woes and his need to prove his innocence now that she sobered him up, but their investigation places them in danger. Readers will enjoy this strong historical.



Harriet Klausner