Product Description
The scent is unmistakable gardenias, sweet and delicate, the same perfume that his beautiful first wife, Jennifer, always wore. Opening his eyes in the hospital room where he’s recovering from an accident, New Orleans detective Rick Bentz sees her standing in the doorway. Then Jennifer blows him a kiss and disappears. But it couldn’t have been Jennifer. She died twelve years ago…Once out of the hospital, Bentz begins to see Jennifer everywhere. Could she still be alive? But it was Bentz who identified Jennifer’s body after her horrible car wreck, and there had been no question in his mind that it was her crumpled form behind the wheel, her clothes, her wedding ring. He’s never doubted it until now. He can’t tell his new wife, Olivia, about the sightings or his secret fear that he’s losing his mind. But Olivia is also hiding a secret…

When a copy of Jennifer’s death certificate arrives in the mail, emblazoned with a red question mark, Bentz follows the postmark trail to Los Angeles, returning to the painful memories he’s tried so hard to forget, and straight into a killer s web.

Someone s been waiting patiently, silently. Someone who knows exactly what happened that night twelve years ago and has been anticipating Bentz’s every move. Soon it will be Bentz s turn to suffer for his sins. But he won t be the only one made to pay the ultimate price. For a diabolical killer has now made Olivia the prime target…

A vengeful ex-wife appears to have returned from the dead to stalk her ex-husband in this gripping thriller from bestseller Jackson (Absolute Fear).Former LAPD detective Rick Bentz has rebuilt his life with a happy marriage and new career with the New Orleans police 12 years after divorcing his unfaithful first wife, Jennifer, who subsequently died in a car crash. After “a freak accident in a lightning storm” that left his temporarily paralyzed, Rick starts seeing Jennifer’s ghost. When Rick receives an anonymous package mailed from Culver City, Calif., containing recent photos of a woman resembling Jennifer, he goes to California to investigate. In L.A., the Twenty-one killer, who strangles identical twins on their 21st birthday, resurfaces. Rick’s last unsolved L.A. case involved victims of this serial killer. Jackson heightens the creep factor by including the viewpoint of a character whose hatred for Rick for past wrongs inspires another extreme killing spree.

My Review:  This book is 424 pages and I read it in about three days.  Thankfully, I was on Spring Break and could read for long periods of time without interruption.  This, as other books I’ve read by this author is super engaging.  I need to add a note to say that this book IS beyond my comfort level in sexual content and language, but if you can look past that, the story hooks you in from the beginning, I think because it deals with the supernatural and paranormal.  The setting bounces back and forth between New Orleans and Los Angeles, and it spans a period of 12 years.  A dead wife “comes back” to haunt the spouse who is living, Rick Bentz.    The story kept me guessing and making predictions about what will happen next or how what happened could possibly happen.  This is a story about a cop who supposedly goes bad and leaves one jurisdiction and begin again in another.  Death and evil  follow him when he leaves New Orleans and goes to LA to gain more information about his former dead wife.  Meanwhile, his current wife is keeping a huge secret from Bentz and is in a great deal of danger herself. Bentz’s fellow police officers find what he has to say unbelievable, until they begin to see it for themselves.  This story includes romance, infidelity, suspense, mystery, and the supernatural – all the ingredients for a great story!

From back cover: It’s back to school time in the peaceful Maine town of Tinker’s Cover, and for mother-of-four Lucy Stone it isn’t a moment too soon.  But trouble at the local elementary school soon has the sometime crime-solver juggling family, job, and night classes with another mystery to solve.  And it starts with a bang.

A bomb goes off with the noon lunch bell, but not before all the kids are safely evacuated, and Carol Crane, the new assistant principal, is hailed as a hero.  But days later, Carol is found murdered and everyone is stunned when the most popular teacher at the school is arrested for the crime.  However, not everyone is buying the open-and-shut case, including Lucy Stone, who senses there’s more to things than meet the eye.

It soon becomes clear that Lucy is flirting with danger, as sizzling secrets and explosive surprises provide a primer for the most diabolical of motives.  Hot on the trail of a clever killer, the dedicated mom and seasoned sleuth must harness the courage and cool aplomb to uncover a crime that just might give her an education in the fine art of murder.

My Review: Love these books – I guess because the main character is a female, mom, wife, and works full time.  There is humor and a little suspense.  The characters are real to life although some are not developed very deeply (ok with me in these books).  Any more cozy mystery fans out there in blog land?  Let me hear from you and tell me your favorite books.  I want to know about more of these books.  I love books by Leslie Meier and I love Joann Flute’s books.  Any more out there along these lines?  Please let me know.