Shadow over Scorpio
Juanita Coulson
Five Star, Apr 2004, $25.95, 204 pp.
ISBN: 1594142009

Several years ago Bianca fled her hometown of Norris Falls, Wisconsin seeking a modeling career. Recently she met the "Consultant of the Stars, Stephen Detloff; they fell in love and married. They live in Scorpio House in Dark Lake, Indiana. Meanwhile her sister Holly stayed behind to nurse their ailing father who was verbally abusive towards her due to dementia. The sibling just buried their father.

Bianca and Stephen take Holly into their home especially since he worries about her safety. As she meets the affluent neighbors, Holly finds two men interested in her, Kyle Preis (heir to a publishing firm) and Russ Graham an (artist for Stephen's popular astrology books). In addition to her romance problems, now the serial killing Butcher Knife Murderer has targeted Holly who refuses to become the next corpse.

SHADOW OVER SCORPIO is an exhilarating romantic suspense with a paranormal twist. Though the audience will initially think Holly has no mind of her own this lead female protagonist will prove to be one tough cookie. She has learned to read the signs of lunacy from the caretaking of her dad, and though she knows the danger, she refuses to back down even with the threat of death lingering over her. However, the intriguing twist to the tale is the three males suddenly in her life of which anyone of them could be the killer. Is it the enigmatic Stephen, the angry Russ, or the flirtatious hunk Kyle?

Harriet Klausner