Law and Disorder (Book Review)

Title: Law and Disorder, Book 1, The Finnegan Connection
Author: Heather Graham
Publication: Harlequin Intrigue, paperback, January 2017
Genre: Romantic Suspense

Plot: Kidnapped while visiting her family home in Florida, Dakota “Kody” Cameron has no one to turn to – except the unexpectedly attractive man holding a gun. Outnumbered and trapped in the deadly Everglades, she has little recourse, but something in this captor’s eyes make her believe he is not as evil as the other men threatening her. Does she dare trust him?

Undercover agent Nick Connolly met Kody briefly in NYC where they both work and is afraid if she recognizes him the bad guys will kill them both. Though determined to maintain his cover, he can’t let Kody die. And his decision to change his own ruls of law and order are about to cause all hell to break loose. . .

Audience: Fans of romantic suspense; readers who like Jayne Ann Krentz, Nora Roberts, and Kay Hooper.

My Impressions: This fast paced and, at times, humorous story begins on a historic estate in Florida, once owned by a 20th century mobster named Anthony Green. Kody, an aspiring actress in New York, is home briefly visiting her family, who nominally own the Crystal Manor, when she is kidnapped by a group of thugs dressed up as historic gangsters. Their leader, going by the name Dillinger, believes Kody can find lost treasure, reputed to have been hidden by Green years ago. He threatens to kill Kody and the staff managing the estate if Kody, who has always been fascinated by the history of her home, cannot locate the treasure.

Kody is a very resourceful heroine who doesn’t back down to thugs, but perhaps it’s a little over the top – given that people have been searching for 80+ years – how quickly she deciphers Green’s papers to deduce where the treasure is buried in the Everglades. Personally, I think having a gun being pointed at me while I researched lost treasure might inhibit my creativity! Add the fun of a kidnapper whose “deep, dark, blue and intense” eyes engender trust and make Kody yearn to get to know him better, even when he seems to be threatening her and her friends. While the reader assumes Kody will be rescued or save herself, this is a romp of a book that reveals Heather Graham’s love of history and her home state. So long as Heather doesn’t make me stumble about in the Everglades hunting for treasure amongst snakes, alligators, and goodness knows what else, I will continue to enjoy her books from the safety of an armchair.
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About the Author: New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Heather Graham has written more than a hundred novels. She’s a winner of the RWA’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Thriller Writers’ Silver Bullet. She is an active member of International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America. For more information, check out her websites: TheOriginalHeatherGraham.com, eHeatherGraham.com, and HeatherGraham.tv. You can also find Heather on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Source: I was provided a pre-publication copy of this book by the publisher for review purposes.

Please join Heather Graham, author of Love and Disorder as she travels with TLC Book Tours.

Tuesday, January 17th: The Sassy Bookster – excerpt

Wednesday, January 18th: A Holland Reads

Thursday, January 19th: Bewitched Bookworms

Friday, January 20th: A Chick Who Reads

Monday, January 23rd: Patricia’s Wisdom

Tuesday, January 24th: Mama Vicky Says

Wednesday, January 25th: Books a la Mode – excerpt

Friday, January 27th: Books and Spoons

Monday, January 30th: A Bookaholic Swede – excerpt

Tuesday, January 31st: Snowdrop Dreams of Books

Wednesday, February 1st: Stranded in Chaos 

Monday, February 6th: Book Reviews and More by Kathy – excerpt 

Monday, February 6th: From the TBR Pile 

Wednesday, February 8th: Dog Eared Daydreams 

Friday, February 10th: Not in Jersey 

Monday, February 13th: Becky on Books 

Wednesday, February 15th: Reading Reality

Plaid and Plagiarism (Book Review)

Title: Plaid and Plagiarism: Book 1 in the Highland Bookshop Mystery Series
Author: Molly MacRae
Publication: Pegasus, Hardcover, 2016
Genre: Mystery

Description: Janet, a middle-aged librarian from Illinois, her friend Christine, Janet’s daughter Tallie, and Tallie’s friend Summer, have moved to Inversgail in Scotland to run a bookstore, Ye Bonnie Books.

Favorite Reads from 2016

According to Goodreads, I read 142 books in 2016 (this does not include rereads, however - my own calculations indicate that I read 149 books, not to mention that reading four Game of Thrones books is like reading a dozen ordinary books!).  Here are my favorites:

Suspense

The Dead House, Fiona Griffiths, #5 – Harry Bingham
This is the most compelling suspense series you haven’t heard of and I insist you go back and start with the first book in the series, Talking to the Dead. Set in Wales, this one is set against the backdrop of a mysterious monastery. Fiona is an extremely odd but endearing detective whose commitment to victims she is assigned to investigate (and those she is not) takes precedence over everything else in her life. She is also desperate to decipher the secrets of her birth, and it seems likely these two story lines will stay connected as the series continues.

I Let You Go – Clare Mackintosh
The despair of Jenna Gray, the main character in this novel of suspense is almost too much to bear and requires occasional application of Kleenex. The story begins with a fatal car crash, then follows Jenna, as she tries to escape from her past in a remote cottage in Wales, while back in Bristol, two detectives are trying to track her down. I liked the detectives and hope the author will return to them in a future book.