Diana Palmer, Night Fever

Night Fever

Diana Palmer

HQN, Dec 2005, $16.95, 384 pp.

ISBN: 03737708758

Twenty-four years old Rebecca Cullen works as a "mule", the lowest ranked employee at a law firm just outside Atlanta while living nearby on her grandfather's farm in Curry County. She has raised her two younger brothers Mack and Clay since their mom died eight years ago; their dad deserted his family years earlier. Though she worries about their mounting debt and expects to sell the farm soon even knowing that will kill her beloved granddad; her biggest concern is Clay running with a fast crowd whom Becky knows uses crack.

Curry County police arrest Clay on drug charges. County D.A. Rourke Kilpatrick is known for being tough on drug offenders, even young ones as he feels strongly about keeping drugs out of his community. However, to Becky's shock, Rourke is gentle with her and with her sibling who he sees as possible bait to catch the real felons. He also wants more from his virgin that he cherishes, but she fears that his tough love approach to her brother will break her heart.

This reprint (under the name Susan Kyle) is an engaging legal thriller romance starring a courageous heroine who gained too much responsibility too soon and a justice driven D.A. who will do anything legal to keep drugs out of the county. Though the romance seems more fairy tale than real, readers will commiserate with Becky, who has no time for courtships. The legal aspects are cleverly designed so that the audience obtains a taste of justice in that rare metro Atlanta region lacking a population boom (then again this tale takes place in 1990) and the pairing though seemingly odd at first make for a fun Georgian Cinderella romance.

Harriet Klausner