“Six-foot-two, two-hundred-pound Jake Wallace usually stood out in most crowds. It wasn’t just his size that made both men and women give him a second look. It was the easy way he moved, the ready-for-anything expression on his square-cut face and his animal energy. Until you engaged him in conversation, you didn’t encounter the off-beat sense of humor that made his sports column in the Baltimore Sun so popular. If you looked deeper, you realized something had given him a deep understanding of human nature. You didn’t perceive the pain. He kept that too well hidden.”

That’s quite an introduction of the hero, and I guess that, coupled with my enjoyment of other Rebecca York titles, set me up for disappointment.

Jake Wallace was a pretty good character, but not good enough to carry the story for the comparatively weak heroine, Laura Roswell. Laura, whom we met in previous 43 Light Street stories Life Line and Shattered Vows, is now divorced from her philandering MD husband. Laura has funneled all her energies into her law practice and has no interest in dating. While the dynamic that was set up between recently jilted Laura and widowed Jake should have been a good one, I just didn’t feel anything beneath their recurring protestations of the “I just can’t open myself up to that kind of hurt again” variety.

The romantic part of the plot aside, the straight suspense part of the plot wasn’t bad, but also didn’t grab me. Both Jake and Laura have inherited interests in a piece of property that has seemed worthless but now might be able to be developed. All the other investors called together at the gloomy mansion known as Ravenwood are of the original group and know each other. After a few unexplained events, murder ensues. Laura’s arrest for the murder gives the couple incentive for finding out who really dunnit. The answers to what’s going on at Ravenwood might involve any of the investors, the would-be developer, Laura’s deceased philandering father, a town official partially responsible for Laura’s incarceration, painful memories from Jake’s past, and the ghost of Ravenwood herself who has been haunting Laura’s nightmares.

Despite my comments above, which are the result of my lack of emotional response to the material, I did give the book 4 stars. This is partly because Jake is a good character, the story was solid, and the writing itself was neither clumsy nor overdone (two pet peeves of mine with Harlequins, especially, it seems, of this vintage). However, most of my favorable rating comes from a plot twist in the middle of the book that took me completely by surprise.

Take it or leave it? Hard to say. It’s not a must-read. However, if you’re reading any of the 43 Light Street series, you’ll want to pick this one up. Previously in the series are: #143 Life Line ISBN 0-373-22143-6, and #155 Shattered Vows ISBN 0-373-22155-X. Next is #179 Only Skin Deep ISBN 0-373-22179-7. ( )