"Exciting amateur sleuth mystery"
Francesca Cahil, the twenty-year-old daughter of wealthy
parents, lives in a posh New York City neighborhood. In
1902, a young woman with her status should be going to
society balls and looking for a rich husband, but she is
hardly the typical debutante. She has enrolled in college,
without her parents' knowledge, is trying to earn money as
a sleuth, and is madly in love with the police
commissioner, Rick Bragg. Although Rick returns her feelings he keeps their
relationship on a platonic level because he's married
although he hasn't seen his wife for four years. The only
part of contact these star-crossed lovers have is when
Francesca inserts herself into a police investigation.
While out on a case of her own, Francesca finds the dead
body of a young Irish seamstress and learns from Bragg that
there was another murder identical to the one the beautiful
bluestocking discovered. Trying to keep their emotions in
check, the two sleuths work together to uncover a very
clever killer. Although DEADLY AFFAIRS is labeled a romance, it is really
an amateur sleuth mystery. Brenda Joyce writes a
compelling tale filled with so many twists and turns that
readers will never be able to discover who the killer is
until the author is ready to reveal it. This is a series
that will have crossover appeal to romance and mainstream
readers. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted March 10, 2002
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