Diamond Sky

Rating:
Summary: Faced-Paced, Action-Stuffed Killer Thriller
Review: Three people are murdered in a Long Beach, California penthouse apartment. Homicide detective Billy Wolfe gets the case after a long absence from the police force. A young girl's body is discovered in the Caribbean by the brother of one of those killed in the penthouse and he dies of a heart attack. A wife and daughter bring the heart attack victim home for burial. Billy Wolfe thinks the crimes are related. He follows the women back to the Caribbean, where he is framed for murder by the Russian Mafia, who have been smuggling conflict diamonds out of Africa, paying for them with weapons. The women flee the Russians on a sailboat. Wolfe dodges the cops, joins with a drug smuggler and follows, hoping to save the damsels in distress, recover a cache of stolen diamonds and clear his name.

Whew! That was a lot of info in just one paragraph. This is a fast-paced, action-stuffed thriller that is not a bit like the author's "Tangerine Dream" which I read first. I expected the sailboat scenes, but the killer thriller bit was a bit of a surprise, as "Dream" was a bit of an unusual love story. I guess it just goes to show you that you shouldn't type cast a writer, or writers in this case. Anyway the book was a non-stop read, with finely turned characters that I'd like to meet again in a future book. I liked the sailboat action, the way the women in trouble fought back against their captors and I really liked the ending. You will too.

Rating:
Summary: Diamond Smugglers, Gun Runners, Damsels in Distress, Oh My!
Review: When Beth Shannon and her step-daughter Noelle, who is only a few years younger then Beth, discover a dead body on a small island off the coast of Trinidad in the Caribbean, they don't realize that the poor young woman had been murdered by the same peope who have killed Noelle's mother and her aunt and uncle in California and have indirectly caused her father, Beth's husband, to have a heart attack and die.

Unknown to Beth, her husband and his brother had been working for dealers in conflict diamonds and they'd put their hands in the cookie jar and died for it. However, the diamonds they stole have disappeared, but the bad guys think the women know where they are. Our heroines sneak out of the country in the middle of the night on a sailboat and now they are running for their lives with some very bad guys in fast pursuit.

The killers chase the women from island to island and finally back to California, where Beth meets up with the homicide cop who is investigating the murders. She is after the diamonds now and she thinks she knows where they might be. However the killers haven't given up and Beth isn't out of danger.

This is a fast-paced thriller that will take your breath away. The authors have the Caribbean and the island life down cold. They've also delivered a satisfying story with just a hint of romance that will leave you aching for more. I just loved it.

Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne