Suzanne Brockmann Ladies’ Man

Ladies' Man

Suzanne Brockmann

Dell, Aug 2006, $6.99

ISBN: 0440243653

Yale Professor Ellen Layne and her TV host Uncle Bob Osborne wait for her Great Aunt Alma to land in New York. Ellen goes to a bookstore where a handsome stranger suggests she read anything by T.S. Harrison before he asks for her number; realizing he is ten years younger than her and that she had two teenage children, Jamie and Lydia, she refuses. Not long afterward, the man meets Bob, who thinks he is Harrison. Unable to get a word in otherwise, NYPD Detective Sam Schaeffer is introduced to Alma as her favorite author.

Ellen gives him a ride in her uncle's Limo where Sam explains that T.S. is his best friend who could not make it, but neither Bob nor Alma would let him speak. Unable to resist, they make love in the back seat of the limo, but afterward she refuses to give him her number as she feels he is too young for her.

T.S. explains to Bob what happened at the airport; Bob still wants the writer to do his biography. Ellen mentions a security breach, death threat letters and obscene calls. T.S. asks Sam to assess the danger. Sam believes the threat is towards Ellen, whose commercial just aired on TV. Later Sam is stunned when he meets her two kids, but handles it gracefully as he becomes their escort while someone dangerous stalks her and her kids.

The relationship between the lead characters is passionate and adding to the freshness is she is a decade older than he. The support cast is solid as the teens are adjusted and Bob and T.S. are caring souls. The climax though containing a delightful twist and a five degrees spin seems abrupt, but readers will still appreciate this fine romantic suspense.

Harriet Klausner