Awe-Struck E-Books. ISBN 1-928670-15-6
Things are not going well for Maura Fitzpatrick. Within a few minutes of discovering a manila envelope tucked at the back of her restaurant's filing cabinet she's staring in disbelief at doctored invoices and photos of her fiancée doing the horizontal mambo with other women. Mixed in with the incriminating photos she finds pictures even less palatable. The two-timing jerk is also cozying up to a local crime lord. 

Worse yet, marching into her fiancée's office to break off their engagement, Maura becomes a horrified witness to murder. Frantic to escape, she heads for the proverbial hills -- and nearly gets killed in a freak automobile accident. Rescued in the nick of time by the owner of a nearby marina, hunky Matt Hanson, Maura gratefully accepts his offer of a place to hide from the hired thugs searching for her. 

Unfortunately for Maura's and Matt's burgeoning relationship, Maura's ex-fiancée uses every means at hand, including Maura's grandmother, to keep the manila envelope and its oh-so-damning contents from getting into the hands of the police. Maura and Matt race against time to decipher the cryptic print-outs that can put the ex in firmly in jail and keep Maura alive to enjoy her new-found love. 

In the Running starts off with a bang. It slows somewhat in the middle and this reviewer found the plot somewhat predictable. But the book's ending more than lives up to the promise of its opening pages. Fans of women-in-jeopardy romances who don't mind by-the-numbers romantic suspense will enjoy Dee Lloyd's well-written tale. 

Teri Dohmen

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