Holly Lisle, Last Girl Dancing

Last Girl Dancing

Holly Lisle

Onyx, Jul 2005, $6.99

ISBN: 0451411978

Atlanta Police department Homicide Special Crimes Unit (HSCU) is looking to stop apparently two serial killers working in tangent targeting Perimeter's exotic dancers. HSCU Detective Jim Hennicut recommends to his boss Captain Howard Booker that they ask for "Princess Grace" as he affectionately calls Detective Jess Brubaker to go undercover as she meets the physical requirement of the killer. Jess reluctantly agrees because this might be the break for her to learn what happened to her stripper twin sister Ginny, who thirteen years ago vanished without a trace.

Because of regional politics including the FBI, the task force consists of Jess, Jim, his partner, and a martial arts psychic who is not a cop. Jim's friend former Ranger Hank Kamien agrees to help. He and Jess enter the sordid realm of exotic dancing and not long afterward a killer targets the female cop. However, trying to hide their attraction from one another becomes almost as difficult as playing cat and mouse with diabolically clever killers.

This is an exciting police procedural romance that takes off at a fabulous pace once Jess goes undercover and never slows down until the final confrontation with the killer. Though the clues as to the culprit's identity are there, fans will be shocked as Holly Lisle does a terrific job with misdirection. The romantic subplot between the undercover duo augments a fine suspense thriller that keeps the audience in a state of high tension throughout the whole tale.

Harriet Klausner