First published 2000
Merci Rayborn has rebuilt her life two years after losing her partner Tim Hess, the father of her child. The Orange County homicide detective now lives with her son and retired cop father. She has found stability and romance with Mike McNally, a fellow officer she respects and trusts. Then a young prostitute turns up dead, and the investigation points directly at Mike as the prime suspect. Merci faces an impossible choice between her professional duty and personal loyalty. She must decide whether to pursue the evidence against the man she loves, knowing that doing so could destroy both their relationship and her carefully reconstructed world. The case forces her to confront how well she really knows Mike and whether her feelings have blinded her to the truth about his character.
Genres: romance, mystery, crime, detective
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Orange County
Period: 2 Years Ago
326 pages · Hardcover · Hyperion Books