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"Exciting romantic suspense"

Almost two years ago, Carolee Burns was an international star playing jazz on a piano as few have ever done. The divorce from her painter-husband Kip would have been painful by itself. However, Kip used Carolee's touring while he stayed home with their child to gain custody of Faith. Kip never bothered to explain that it was Carolee's successes that allowed him studios in their home and that the nanny spent time with Faith not him.

Devastated and unable to play, Carolee rarely ventures in public anymore except for occasionally performing at a small club in the Seattle suburbs. Former pro football player Max Wolfe watches Carolee when she performs and sees in her face and her playing the pain of someone terribly hurt. He wants to help her overcome her anguish, but even as they fall in love, Carolee cannot afford anything to interfere with her goal: regaining custody of Faith.

TELL ME WHY is an exciting romantic suspense novel that could have been greater if the story line did not turn Kip from a Machiavellian manipulator into a malevolent person. The plot works at its best when Kip outmaneuvers Carolee and seems to nurture Faith. It remains quite exciting even when Kip turns into a villain, but loses some of the raw emotional edge. In spite of that rotation in the plot, readers will realize that Stella Cameron remains one of the sub-genre's top talents.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted August 22, 2001

Whenever Carolee Burns plays at Bistro Brandy, Max Wolfe is there. He is a silent observer in the smoky darkness, nursing a drink as Carolee's poignant music washes over him. He can't stop thinking about the mysterious woman at the piano.

At its peak, Carolee's celebrated career as a jazz pianist took her all over the world. Then, eighteen months ago, she dropped out of sight, emerging only occasionally to perform at this tiny suburban Seattle club.

Max had seen her play in New York, but it's here at Bistro Brandy that Carolee Burns—her music, her melancholy, her haunting face—works an irresistible magic on him. Drawn to her sadness, compelled to know the reason for her sudden withdrawal from an apaprently idyllic life, Max searches for answers to his questions...by going straight to the source.

Carolee won't talk about the ruin of her life: the sudden crashing end to her once-happy marriage, the agonizing estrangement from a daughter who needs her now more than ever, her ex-husband's vindictive behavior. Hiding herself away from everything and everyone has seemed the best way to regroup.

When Max Wolfe changes from observer to participant in Carolee's world, he becomes a temptation she doesn't want to resist. But even as Carolee delas with the irresistible consequences of allowing love back into her life, a tragedy reveals secrets that may change everything she believes about herself—jeopardizing her fragile hold on happiness...

Genre: Contemporary Romance