Innocent Prey (Brown and de Luca #3) by Maggie Shayne

Mystery

From Goodreads:

To save innocent lives, they'll have to risk their own.

Self-help superstar Rachel de Luca and Detective Mason Brown have finally given in to their overwhelming attraction to each other, but neither of them is ready to let physical passion turn into full-blown romance, so they carefully maintain an emotional distance. Then a judge's daughter disappears, and Mason has a terrible sense that it's connected to the most recent case they solved together: the abduction of Rachel's assistant.

The discovery of a string of missing women—all young, all troubled—seems like a promising lead. But there's no clear connection between the missing girls and the high-profile young woman Mason is trying to find. He realizes that once again he'll have to rely on his own well-honed instincts and Rachel's uncanny capacity to see through people's lies in order to catch a predator and rescue his captives. But can they do it before Rachel becomes his next victim?

Brown and de Luca are off on a new mystery.  

This time the mystery has nothing to do with Brown’s brother and sister-in-law.   Instead young women are disappearing and they are asked to help.  The story highlights not only the mystery but also the evolving relationship between Mason Brown and Rachel de Luca.

The plot leaves plenty room for tension, danger and romance.  Rachel finds that her powers have not disappeared.  In fact she is NFP while helping solve the case.  (Read the book to see what NFP stands for).  She still is relationship shy even as she and Mason are together more and more.  Mason is almost as confused about their relationship as Rachel.  The two are one of the more entertaining couples in the mystery world and I am looking forward to the next book, Deadly Obsession due November 25, 2014.

Harlequin published Innocent Prey by Maggie Shayne in 2014.

I received an ARC of Innocent Prey from Netgalley in return for a honest review.

Wake to Darkness (Brown and De Luca #2) by Maggie Shayne

Mystery/Thriller
 

What Goodreads Says:

"Stranded with a murderer...
Rachel de Luca's uncanny sense of perception is the key to her success as a self-help celebrity. Even before she regained her sight, she had a gift for seeing people's most carefully hidden secrets. But the secret she shares with Detective Mason Brown is one she has promised to keep. As for Mason, he sees Rachel more clearly than she'd like to admit...
After a single night of adrenaline-fueled passion, they have agreed to keep their distance—until a string of murders brings them together again. Mason thinks that he can protect everyone he loves, including Rachel, by taking them to a winter hideaway, but danger follows them up the mountain.
As guests disappear from the snowbound resort, the race to find the murderer intensifies. Rachel knows she's a target. Will acknowledging her feelings for Mason destroy her...or save them both and stop a killer?"

Wake to Darkness has a great deal of tension.  Like Sleep With the Lights On it is still focused on Eric Brown’s suicide and the people who got his organs as transplants. Mason Brown and Rachel de Luca are again thrown together because of a killer.  This time instead of the killer being someone who received a transplanted organ from Eric the victims are recipients of his organs.  That puts Rachel in the killer’s path.

I loved the interaction between Mason and Rachel and this time there are the members of each ones extended families in the mix.  This is a well written thriller that keeps the tension at a peak through the story.  I thought I thought knew who the killer was but I just could not see why they had a reason to hunt people down like they were.  That threw me off for much of the book.  There is also the tension between Mason and Rachel as they try to ignore the attraction they feel and just concentrate on the murders.

If you like a lot of tension with some off again on again romance thrown Wake to Darkness is a good choice.  It is OK as a stand alone but is much better if you read Sleep With the Lights on first.  There is a novella that is set in-between the two books if you want to get more of Brown and De Luca.

Mira published Wake to Darkness by Maggie Shayne in 2013.

Book Beginnings, November 1, 2013

Book Beginnings on Friday is a meme hosted by Gilion at Rose City Reader. Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading.

My Book Beginning this week is from Sleep With the Lights On by Maggie Shayne.  Here is the Beginning:

"He watched the body sink in slow motion through the murky green water.  Tears blurred his eyes, obstructing his view, but he wiped them away,"  From the Prologue

"If the bullshit I wrote was true, I wouldn't have been standing in the middle of a beehive where all the bees were cops - not one worker bee in the hive, either - trying to get someone interested in finding out what had happened to my brother."   From Chapter One

The Prologue was so creepy I wondered if I could stand to read the book; then I got hooked and could not put it down.  It is a paranormal mystery/romance and the start to a new series featuring Rachel de Luca and Mason Brown.  After I finished reading Sleep With the Lights On I immediately went to NetGalley to get Wake To Darkness the next book in the series.  (I love being pre-approved by Harlequin)

Here is what Goodreads says: 

Through the eyes of a killer

Rachel de Luca has found incredible success writing self-help books. But her own blindness and the fact that her troubled brother has gone missing have convinced her that positive thinking is nothing but bull. Her cynicism wavers when a cornea transplant restores her sight. The new eyes seem to give her new life, until they prove too good to be true and she starts seeing terrifying visions of brutal murders crimes she soon learns are all too real.

Detective Mason Brown's own brother recently died, leaving behind a horrific secret. In atonement, Mason donated his brother's organs, though he's kept the fact quiet. Now he wants to help Rachel find her brother, but when he discovers the shocking connection between her visions and his own brother, he suddenly has to do everything in his power to save her from a predator who is somehow still hunting from beyond the grave