Pocket Books (Paperback), ISBN 0-671-78568-5
Question: What do a missing sister, a serial killer on death row, a world-famous, world-traveling feature editor/photographer, an embittered, reclusive widower and romance have in common?  

Answer: Brown-Eyed Girl by Mariah Stewart, a romantic suspense novel that rivals Tami Hoag's finest efforts. The book carries enough suspense to ice a spine and enough sizzling romance to warm the coldest heart -- except possibly that of the stalker working on his own chilling agenda (an agenda that includes murder and mutilation). 

Question: What happens when the editor returns from abroad and finds a missive from a serial killer telling her he knows where her long missing sister can be found and asking for the reward money? 

Answer: Mariah Stewart gives us an outstanding read and answers all the questions -- even the one that asks what happens when the serial killer dies by violence before earning the reward. 

Co-owner and features editor of a popular magazine, Leah McDevitt searches still for her younger sister, Melissa, who disappeared years previously. Given new hope by a letter from convicted killer Raymond Lambert, she continues the search after Lambert dies.  

The one person who might be able to help, who might hold the vital clue to her sister's whereabouts, lives in Maine. Ethan Sanger lost his wife to Lambert's depraved killing spree. He listened to the murderer's obscene ramblings and wrote a book about Lambert in exchange for information regarding his dead wife's final resting place. 

Reluctant to involve himself in her quest at first, Ethan finally teams with Leah, but he may not be in time to save her from whoever stalks her with deadly intent. Secrets hide beneath secrets. 

The tightly written plot draws the reader deeper and deeper into a far-reaching tangle of lies and greed -- and madness -- before the final resolution. A high-voltage page-turner, Brown-Eyed Girl personifies heart-pounding suspense in a grand manner. 

Patricia White

Patricia White is the Sapphire Award-winning author of A Wizard Scorned. Her current book, the contemporary PS, I've Taken a Lover, is available from Lionhearted Books . The Wandering Troll, an electronic magazine, began serializing her novel Prophecy Be Damned in April 2000.

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