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Friday, December 17, 2010

Veil of Night


Author: Linda Howard
Publisher: Ballantine Books, 2010

Jaclyn Wilde is a wedding planner who loves her job—usually. But helping Carrie Edwards with her Big Day has been an unrelenting nightmare. Carrie is a bridezilla of mythic nastiness, a diva whose tantrums are just about as crazy as her demands. But the unpleasant task at hand turns seriously criminal when Carrie is brutally murdered and everyone involved with the ceremony is accusing one another of doing the deed.

Assigned to the case, Detective Eric Wilder finds that there’s too much evidence pointing toward too many suspects. Compounding his problems is Jaclyn, with whom he shared one deeply passionate night before Carrie’s death. Being a prime suspect means that Jaclyn is hands-off just when Eric would rather be hands-on. As the heat intensifies between Eric and Jaclyn, a cold-blooded murderer moves dangerously close. And this time the target is not a bride but one particularly irresistible wedding planner, unaware of a killer’s vow.


I was really looking forward to this one. As I have said before, I am a big Linda Howard fan, so I flock to any new book by her. I was a little disappointed in this one. I've read better by Ms. Howard. It started out promising, but by the middle, it just fell flat. It was too easy to figure out the mystery. There was nothing overly exciting that happened and I feel like there were some parts that were just unnecessary filler to make up pages. This one might have worked better as a novella. I did like the hero and heroine,though, as their interaction was amusing. I just wish there was more romance. The love scenes weren't up to her usual steamy standard. If you are new to Linda Howard, don't start with this one. Pick up one of her earlier romantic suspense first. 2.5 stars

- Kari

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