Now You See Him
Stella Cameron
Mira, Nov 2004, $19.95, 352 pp.
ISBN: 0778320995

Two years ago, Ellie Byron was standing on a balcony watching the Mardi Gras festivities when she saw the Stephanie Gray murder. The New Orleans Police arrested Charles Penn, but Ellie could not identify whether he was the killer as she insisted she followed the victim; the police believe that Ellie feared Charles would come after her so she refused to tell the truth. In spite of Ellie's inability to point to Charles as the killer, he is convicted of murder.

Ellie, owner of the Hungry Eyes Bookstore in Toussaint, Louisiana, learns that Charles has escaped from incarceration and that another woman was killed using the same ice pick modus operendi used in the Gray case. Besides her belief that her life is in peril, but not necessarily from Charles, Ellie fears that her past will surface. Local lawyer Joe Gable tries to protect her because he wants to get close to her, but also wonders why Ellie Byron has no history anywhere prior to five years ago. Meanwhile, police see uncanny parallels between the homicides and mystery novels written by Sonja Elliot.

This exhilarating, romantic suspense is a tense thriller that grips the audience from the moment Charles escapes from prison; the plot keeps the attention of fans as the tension mounts and twists occur. The audience will wonder if Charles truly is the killer or is there is someone else, perhaps from Ellie's shadowy past. Finally, there is the link to the Elliot novels to muddy the bayous further in what is a sensational tale that keeps readers wondering who's doing what to whom.

Harriet Klausner