After Midnight

Rating:
Summary: Yummy! Yummy! Yummy!!!
Review: Hello Sheriff. Jessica Yount Blackwell comes back to the town where her mother was gang raped and hustled out. Although she has no use for the town or its occupants, she tries to overcome the bad memories and overcome her past. She is stationed at the airforce base near the town. It begins with Sheriff Steve Paxton coming to inquire about the abrupt death of her real estate agent. It turns out that the man said her name before he committed suicide. Jessica is not fond of the police since the last time she was there and has no comment for the Steve. The attraction is there even through the side stepping and the evasions. The story escalates a notch more when on her way home, Jessica's car is forced off a bridge into the river. Now she begins to wonder what is happening. So is Steve. They become involved and soon are trying to figure out who is trying to kill her. Then another man turns up dead. It comes to light that the two deceased men are linked by one common incident - the rape of Jessica's mother. Is Jessica killing all of the rapists or is someone trying to frame her? This is a wonderful book by Merline. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Highly emotional novel.
Review: Jessica Blackwell learned young that she had to be tough; her mother's being the town tramp made her that way. It also led them to being sent out of town by the sherriff, causing Jessica to acquire a deepseated mistrust towards lawmen.

Ironically, a quarter of a century later, she finds herself back in her home town as the result of a military promotion, and not long after that, attracted to the sexy sherriff who comes knocking on her door late one night. Dead bodies have begun turning up, and Jessica is the thread that connects them all, and she is the one person with the most obvious motive for wanting these men dead. Being drawn to the prime suspect is something Steve Paxton had never counted on, especially not when his heart still bears scars from a messy divorce.

Jessica might be the prime suspect, but the real killer wants her dead as well. As the two delve into the past, though, they begin to wonder if there might be a future for them. They have to survive first however.

***** Taughtly drawn and highly emotional, this novel is on a par with Sandra Brown's earliest and best work, and surpasses that of the current queens of military fiction. Both hero and heroine are all that you could want in a starring couple, equal in toughness, and also in vulnerability. Jessica and Steve work so well together that you wish that they might become the central couple in a series, ala Eve and Roarke. *****

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore.

Rating:
Summary: A story that will grab you from page one...
Review: Lieutenant Colonel Jessica Blackwell has returned to the town that holds so many bad memories for her. She puts them aside however, for a great career oppurtunity at Eglin Air Force Base. Always distrusting of law enforcement, she is even more wary of Sheriff Steve Paxton, who wears the same badge as the man that ran her and her mother out of town so many years ago.

Sheriff Steve Paxton puts his attraction to Jess on the back burner and his investigation of two suspicious deaths on the front. Two men are dead that Jess had reason to hold a grudge against, but this time Steve can't trust his instincts. Although trying to think with his brain, when it comes to Jess he tends to think with anatomy that is farther south.

I really enjoyed this book. The suspense was very good. It was emotional and heartbreaking to read about the struggle Jess went through as a child and now as an adult who loved her mother as much as she did. Steve tries to be objective, but find that all objectivity flies out the window when it comes to Jess. I thought that there was few too many facts about Jess's job that can make the reader become confused. Besides that, it was a great book and I would definetly reccommend it!

Rating:
Summary: A story that will grab you from page one...
Review: Lieutenant Colonel Jessica Blackwell has returned to the town that holds so many bad memories for her. She puts them aside however, for a great career oppurtunity at Eglin Air Force Base. Always distrusting of law enforcement, she is even more wary of Sheriff Steve Paxton, who wears the same badge as the man that ran her and her mother out of town so many years ago.

Sheriff Steve Paxton puts his attraction to Jess on the back burner and his investigation of two suspicious deaths on the front. Two men are dead that Jess had reason to hold a grudge against, but this time Steve can't trust his instincts. Although trying to think with his brain, when it comes to Jess he tends to think with anatomy that is farther south.

I really enjoyed this book. The suspense was very good. It was emotional and heartbreaking to read about the struggle Jess went through as a child and now as an adult who loved her mother as much as she did. Steve tries to be objective, but find that all objectivity flies out the window when it comes to Jess. I thought that there was few too many facts about Jess's job that can make the reader become confused. Besides that, it was a great book and I would definetly reccommend it!

Rating:
Summary: A gripping story...
Review: Lt. Col. Jessica Blackwell has come home...home to a mystery. Men from her mother's past are dying, someone's trying to kill her, and the town's sheriff is more than investigating her, he's touched something in her.

Sheriff Steve Paxton knows that Jessica's at the heart of the sudden rash of deaths...and he's also discovering she's somewhere in his heart as well. Dangers pursue them both as they try to unravel the truth...the truth about the past and the truth about the nature of their feelings.

Merline Lovelace is a masterful storyteller, and After Midnight is a prime example of her talent.

Rating:
Summary: A gripping story...
Review: Lt. Col. Jessica Blackwell has come home...home to a mystery. Men from her mother's past are dying, someone's trying to kill her, and the town's sheriff is more than investigating her, he's touched something in her.

Sheriff Steve Paxton knows that Jessica's at the heart of the sudden rash of deaths...and he's also discovering she's somewhere in his heart as well. Dangers pursue them both as they try to unravel the truth...the truth about the past and the truth about the nature of their feelings.

Merline Lovelace is a masterful storyteller, and After Midnight is a prime example of her talent.

Rating:
Summary: Fast and furious
Review: This astounding piece of military romantic suspense boasts comprehensive details on Eglin Air Base in the heart of Florida panhandle and its function as a fuel storage base. Not surprising though, after all author Merline Lovelace was a veteran commander in the base in her military career that spanned 23 years.

After Midnight is hence an accurate and realistic story on Lt. Col Jessica Blackwell who is newly transferred to the base and is thrust with the unpleasant task of disciplining Sgt. Babcocks who vents his rage when his marriage went awry. Could he be the one who sideswiped Jess's vehicle?

It proves to be more of a red herring when Jess discovers the death of realtor Ron Clark and Reverend McConnell is linked to the rape of her mother Helen, repudiated by the town as a loose woman. Walton County Sheriff Steve Paxton investigates and protects Jess from a vicious killer in the midst.

This lean pulsating thriller brims with intelligence and is peopled with two strong protagonists with emotional complexities and wits. It is equally fascinating in its scope of oil distillation and barges. However none of these elements can rival the razor-edged suspense that comes fast and furious.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Romantic Suspense!!!
Review: This was a great military romantic suspense that promises to hook you from the first page and not let you go until the end!

Lt. Col Jess Blackwell has come back home to Florida after being stationed at Eglin AFB. She left Florida as a child in the middle of the night and has not returned since. Her childhood was not picture perfect and she found herself constantly getting into fights protecting her mother's name. Now Jess is all grown up and has a respectable job but the past comes back to haunt her.

Steve Paxton in the Sheriff of the county that Jess has just moved back to. It's a quite part of the Florida Panhandle so it raises eyebrows when bodies start turning up dead in his little corner of the world. It's even more so when one of the deaths lead him to Jess Blackwell. His cop sense tells him that she is connected in someway but the man in him wants it to be anyone but her. She is the first woman that he has been attracted to since his divorce.

Jess and Steve find themselves drawn to each other even though they both know that it's not in their best interest to act on their mutual attraction. Despite the complications of the investigations that Steve is running, and the connections that Steve finds to tie Jess to the string of murders he still can't stay away. One way or another he will prove that Jess is innocent of the murders, and prove to Jess that loving him is not a bad thing.

This was a fast paced book that I managed to inhale in one day. The mystery surrounding the deaths of the the diffent men that are connected to Jess's past is well written and will keep you glued to the pages. The chemestry between Jess and Steve is hot and steamy! This was a great blending of suspense and romance!

Rating:
Summary: strong military romantic suspense
Review: Though she would prefer to avoid this duty near her hometown, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jessica Blackwell accepts the assignment at Eglin. To Jessica her childhood home Valpariso, Florida is near Eglin, but her memory is of a tragedy from a quarter of a century ago when her mother was assaulted. Still she salutes when a three star General selected Jessica to clean up the environmental nightmare at the base in order to satisfy EPA after an illegal dumping into the sewerage system.

Walton County Sheriff Steve Paxton visits Jessica to ask her about her relationship with local realtor Ron Clark, who apparently committed suicide. His wife who found the body says his last words she heard was his mentioning Blackwell. Jessica informs the law enforcement official she met Clark once to pick up the keys to this home. Other murders follow with the link between the dead being what happened to Jessica's mother, making Steve wonder if he has fallen in love with a vengeful killer.

The Commander in Chief of military romantic suspense is Merline Lovelace. Her latest tale, AFTER MIDNIGHT, would gain her the US Senate's consent as the sub-genre leader. The key characters are three-dimensional whether they are Air Force or civilian while the support players either provides insight into the area, the military, or the lead couple. The who-done-it is a delightful police procedural as Steve battles between his heart swearing Jessica is innocent and his brain saying she is the connection. Another five star novel by an author whose books always soar with the best.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: strong military romantic suspense
Review: Though she would prefer to avoid this duty near her hometown, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jessica Blackwell accepts the assignment at Eglin. To Jessica her childhood home Valpariso, Florida is near Eglin, but her memory is of a tragedy from a quarter of a century ago when her mother was assaulted. Still she salutes when a three star General selected Jessica to clean up the environmental nightmare at the base in order to satisfy EPA after an illegal dumping into the sewerage system.

Walton County Sheriff Steve Paxton visits Jessica to ask her about her relationship with local realtor Ron Clark, who apparently committed suicide. His wife who found the body says his last words she heard was his mentioning Blackwell. Jessica informs the law enforcement official she met Clark once to pick up the keys to this home. Other murders follow with the link between the dead being what happened to Jessica's mother, making Steve wonder if he has fallen in love with a vengeful killer.

The Commander in Chief of military romantic suspense is Merline Lovelace. Her latest tale, AFTER MIDNIGHT, would gain her the US Senate's consent as the sub-genre leader. The key characters are three-dimensional whether they are Air Force or civilian while the support players either provides insight into the area, the military, or the lead couple. The who-done-it is a delightful police procedural as Steve battles between his heart swearing Jessica is innocent and his brain saying she is the connection. Another five star novel by an author whose books always soar with the best.

Harriet Klausner