Spindler's latest romantic suspense moves fast and takes no prisoners. Kate and Richard Ryan, the perfect couple (money, good looks, successful power careers, great house on Lake Pontchartrain), adopt a baby girl to make their lives complete. Unbeknownst to them, the birth mother, Julianna, a young woman on the run from her ex-lover, CIA contract-killer John Powers, is more than a tad unhinged. Unable to tear herself from the beautiful lives of the Ryans, Julianna falls for Richard and becomes his mistress.
Dallas, a New York police lieutenant, is a hard-bitten warrior cop who buries the pain and anger of her early childhood by excelling on the job. In her latest adventure, all the usual suspects are back: Eve's charismatic husband, Roarke; her plucky assistant, Peabody; and hipster techno-geek McNab. For this round, their objective is to take down a woman Eve arrested 10 years ago, a poisoner named Julianna Dunne. Julianna's out on parole, and now rich old men are dying sudden deaths.
