Cloak and Dagger (Intrigue, No 118)

Rating:
Summary: Nancy Drew for Grown Ups!
Review: Jenna Ryan is one of the few Harlequin Intrigue writers who really can effectively blend the romance with the mystery, so that the mystery does not seem an afterthought. She also (in these earlier novels) managed to create some interesting characters (including the hero and heroine) not quite so flat as the newer Intrigue writers (heros especially suffer in these books, they are always either cops or cowboys or contractors). Ryan always comes up with classic mystery plots reworked for the Intrigue venue, as well as nice original touches in setting and mood that make her books stand out. In this one, the niece of a blackmailer tries to find out if her aunt was murdered as part of an ancient curse (hold on for some of the WORST poetry you ever read in your life) or for her own shenanigans. The hero, a former steel worker (contractor?) but now a mystery writer (you gotta love it) has been accused of the aunt's murder. This one had it all: secret passages, ancestors selling their souls to the devil, heroine being chased by a knife-wielding maniac... Very amusing!