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Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Hired to find a saboteur in a small import company, PI Dana Morancy goes undercover as an organizational design consultant. Instant attraction to Noah Haine causes Dana to remind herself that he is off limits, at least until she can rule him out as a suspect. Interestingly, Dana carries a lot of emotional baggage, having given up her beloved career as one of New York's police officers following a devastating event. Immediately after meeting Dana, Noah surfs the web looking for information on this design consultant. He wonders if she is either a cop or a PI. He finds a website with her credentials as a consultant, but, still suspicious, follows her home later that day, soon learning her true identity. Rather than making her look bad to the bosses, he insists that they team up and find the saboteur together. Dawn Stewardson neatly sidesteps ethical issues of a PI becoming involved with a potential suspect by not allowing the romance to grow between them until the second half of the book. However, that plotting decision presents a problem for the reader. The focus on plot to the exclusion of character development results in distancing the reader from the hero and heroine and not buying into their developing romance. Worse, the final conflict that threatens to tear them apart blindsides the reader, rather than working convincingly into the plot. On the other hand, the mystery is carefully plotted, well motivated, and credibly developed. Nevertheless, UNEXPECTED OUTCOME is unexpectedly disappointing.
Rating: 
Summary: Manhattan romantic suspense
Review: Robert Haine and business partner Larry Benzer believe someone is sabotaging their company, Four Corners Imports. Desperate to stop the destruction to their reputations and the waste of precious money used to cover arson and losses, Robert hires former New York Police Officer turned private investigator Dana Morancy.
Dana agrees with Robert's assessment that the sabotage is most likely an inside job. She explains about her cover, Dana Mayfield, organizational design consultant hired by Robert to look into the "run of bad luck". As Dana works closely on uncovering the identity of the criminal, she falls in love with Robert's nephew who reciprocates her feelings. However, family secrets once revealed will make it impossible for the sleuth and the finance manager to share a permanent relationship.
UNEXPECTED OUTCOME is an exciting Manhattan romantic suspense novel that is at its best when the story line focuses on the undercover investigation. When the plot spins off into a genetics issue, it loses steam, as many readers will believe the tale ran thirty pages too long. Dana is a great rounded heroine struggling to overcome her belief that she failed herself and her father when she quit NYPD. Noah breaks the image of the bottom line accountant by actively becoming Dana's partner on the case and courting the female sleuth. Together they are dynamic leaving readers with the entertaining pleasure expected from a Dawn Stewardson novel. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Manhattan romantic suspense
Review: Robert Haine and business partner Larry Benzer believe someone is sabotaging their company, Four Corners Imports. Desperate to stop the destruction to their reputations and the waste of precious money used to cover arson and losses, Robert hires former New York Police Officer turned private investigator Dana Morancy.
Dana agrees with Robert's assessment that the sabotage is most likely an inside job. She explains about her cover, Dana Mayfield, organizational design consultant hired by Robert to look into the "run of bad luck". As Dana works closely on uncovering the identity of the criminal, she falls in love with Robert's nephew who reciprocates her feelings. However, family secrets once revealed will make it impossible for the sleuth and the finance manager to share a permanent relationship.
UNEXPECTED OUTCOME is an exciting Manhattan romantic suspense novel that is at its best when the story line focuses on the undercover investigation. When the plot spins off into a genetics issue, it loses steam, as many readers will believe the tale ran thirty pages too long. Dana is a great rounded heroine struggling to overcome her belief that she failed herself and her father when she quit NYPD. Noah breaks the image of the bottom line accountant by actively becoming Dana's partner on the case and courting the female sleuth. Together they are dynamic leaving readers with the entertaining pleasure expected from a Dawn Stewardson novel. Harriet Klausner
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