Musing Monday, May 26, 2014 - In The Black (Tales From the Edge #!) by Sherly Nantus

TC is in the sun musing about the chipmunk she sees out the window.
Hopefully that is all she does.  So far this month she has presented me
 with two chipmunks one alive and one dead but both in my bedroom.

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week.…Musing Mondays is sponsored by Should Be Reading.

• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it! 
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

Today I am musing about a Science Fiction Romance book.  If you have been on my blog much you know that Science Fiction and Science Fiction Romance are my favorite for reading.  I recently received In the Black (Tales from the Edge, #1) by Sheryl Nantus from Netgalley and I just finished reading it.

It is SFR but SFR with a difference.  First look at the premise:

  When Sam Keller left the military, she ran to the far end of the galaxy. Now she captains the Bonnie Belle, a spaceship full of courtesans who bring a little pleasure to hard-up men on mining colonies.

OK, a ship full of courtesans.  That is a first for me.  So it must be erotica,  Yes.  No!!!  Instead this happens:

 When one of her girls turns up dead, it's Sam's job to find out who killed her, fast.

So it is a mystery but wait a minute it is suppose to be a romance.  Where does that come into the story.  Here is where:

Marshal Daniel LeClair is as tough as steel and quick on the draw. But when his vacation gets replaced by an assignment to help find the killer, he can't help angling for a little action with the saucy, hard-charging Sam.

They are attracted to each other but guess what?

But when the killer threatens the Belle again, romance will have to wait.

I have to admit In the Black was a really fun read that kept me guessing the entire time.  The mystery is really fun, Sam is a great character, Marshal Daniel is a match for Sam and the way Sheryl Nantus got to the HEA without changing the responsibilities and commitments both Sam and Daniel had was unexpected and very elegant.   All in all a great fun read that has a unusual setting.