Portia Wells's husband, a nature activist, died in a one-car accident on a stretch of road he knew well, but Portia is the only one who finds his death suspicious. She's in NYC at a charity function for the Nature Preservation Society. Her husband was the president of the NPS, and she's been offered the presidency in his stead.

Nick Sinestra is a disenchanted cop who moonlights for a tabloid newspaper, at the charity function to keep an eye out for any interesting celebrities.

Portia sees him as a hero when he saves her from an overzealous reporter.... only to find that Nick's the one who tracked her down and divulged her whereabouts.

When Nick is ordered to take a vacation, he takes the tabloid up on its offer and follows her out to her Colorado ranch, where she and her ranch appear to be in increasing danger.

A lot of the reviews complain that After Hours starts slowly, and maybe it does, but it seems to fit the story quite well. Or maybe I was just patient because I trust Lynn Erickson's writing.

Nick and Portia both have a lot of personal issues to work through, as well as trying to figure out if someone killed her husband and who and why, and who's threatening her. Their problems are realistic and are dealt with honestly, and the secondary characters, including Portia's brother-in-law and his wife, and Nick's partner, are three-dimensional and have issues of their own.

Lynn Erickson (Molly Swanton and Carla Peltonen) has been one of my favorite romantic suspense authors for a while now, and After Hours is no exception. What's frustrating is that they only had one book out after After Hours: Husband and Lover, and I read that one over two years ago. They mentioned then that they'd been having trouble with their next book, but darn! I'm hoping there's a benign reason for the lack of new books. ( )