Catherine Mulvany, Shadows All Around Her

Shadows All Around Her

Catherine Mulvany

Pocket, Sep 2005, $6.99

ISBN: 0743493842

Janus the head of security for the Mediterranean Sea island monarchy Calix, informs his agent Dominic Fortune that someone is stealing artifacts from the palace library. Of most concern is that American medieval literature Professor Erskine Grant has obtained a copy of a sacred Calixian document. Dominic is to retrieve it from Grant who is in Edinburgh attending a forum.

Dominic finds Erskine dead and another visiting professor Magnus Armstrong missing. Magnus' stepdaughter Math Professor Caitlin O'Shaugnessy received a package from Magnus for her birthday. When she learns he is missing, accompanied by her closest friend Bree Thatcher, she flies to Scotland where Dominic meets her at the airport. As he tries to keep her safe from several attempts to abduct her, Caitlin begins realizing that she possesses the missing manuscript sent to her by Magnus. She also knows she loves her protector who reciprocates her feelings, but first must solve the case of the seventeenth century manuscript in order to rescue Magnus from a villain who seems invincible.

SHADOWS ALL AROUND HER is a fantastic romantic suspense thriller with fantasy and horror elements that enhance the delightful story line. Readers will root for the lead couple to rescue the tortured Magnus from a clever adversary pulling everyone's strings. Romance readers will enjoy the relationship between Dominick and Caitlin as well as that between Bree and another protection expert. Still the plot is loaded with intrigue from the beginning to the final chaos theory twists that will have the audience seeking more works from talented Catherine Mulvany.

Harriet Klausner