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Mistletoe And Murder
TWELVE NIGHTS AND COUNTING DOWN TO CHRISTMAS
Every Christmas the threats started again. They came delivered in red greeting cards, and this year Romana was forced to take them seriously. Even if it meant turning to Jacob Knight --- the sexy detective she'd always kept at arm's length. After seven years, he was bigger, stronger and more man than she was prepared for. His dark past endangered Romana --- but only his arms could provide protection from the convicted killer bent on exacting revenge. And as the nights grew longer and more difficult, their passions threatened to erupt --- and expose them to dangers as irresistible as they were reckless.
Every Christmas the threats started again. They came delivered in red greeting cards, and this year Romana was forced to take them seriously. Even if it meant turning to Jacob Knight --- the sexy detective she'd always kept at arm's length. After seven years, he was bigger, stronger and more man than she was prepared for. His dark past endangered Romana --- but only his arms could provide protection from the convicted killer bent on exacting revenge. And as the nights grew longer and more difficult, their passions threatened to erupt --- and expose them to dangers as irresistible as they were reckless.
251 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 2007
13 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
About the author
Jenna Ryan
105 books129 followersJenna Ryan was born in Victoria, British Columbia. After long stints in different cities across Canada, she returned home to Vancouver Island where she has lived ever since. She has had thirty-one books published in the Harlequin Intrigue series. Her ideas come from real life, and she is helped in her writing by her sister Kathy.
She enjoys reading and is a big fan of women's fiction, psychological suspense and mystery novels. She also enjoys watching classic suspense movies. She loves strong heroines, heroes with character, romance stories and a good whodunit by the fire on a rainy night.
Her heritage is a blend of English and Irish — which is probably where the gift of blarney comes from. She is unmarried, but involved with a wonderful man. She also has a little white cat named Sheena.
Whenever she is not writing, she travels as much as time and finances will allow. After North America, Europe is her favorite continent to explore, because it was in those countries that many of the myths and legends she drew upon in her early years of writing were born.
Growing up, she considered various careers and dabbled in several of them, including, after university, the travel industry, tourism, sales and modeling. Work in the fashion industry in Toronto and Montreal gave her an interesting peek into various aspects of that world. She learned that where money, power and people come together, there will always be unpredictability — an element she feels is essential to a strong mystery. Add a healthy measure of personal conflict, an intriguing setting and a spicy romance into the mix, and you have the ingredients for what she believes to be the best of all possible stories — a great romantic suspense.
She enjoys reading and is a big fan of women's fiction, psychological suspense and mystery novels. She also enjoys watching classic suspense movies. She loves strong heroines, heroes with character, romance stories and a good whodunit by the fire on a rainy night.
Her heritage is a blend of English and Irish — which is probably where the gift of blarney comes from. She is unmarried, but involved with a wonderful man. She also has a little white cat named Sheena.
Whenever she is not writing, she travels as much as time and finances will allow. After North America, Europe is her favorite continent to explore, because it was in those countries that many of the myths and legends she drew upon in her early years of writing were born.
Growing up, she considered various careers and dabbled in several of them, including, after university, the travel industry, tourism, sales and modeling. Work in the fashion industry in Toronto and Montreal gave her an interesting peek into various aspects of that world. She learned that where money, power and people come together, there will always be unpredictability — an element she feels is essential to a strong mystery. Add a healthy measure of personal conflict, an intriguing setting and a spicy romance into the mix, and you have the ingredients for what she believes to be the best of all possible stories — a great romantic suspense.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 4, 2009
Ms. Ryan has done it again! After A Voice In The Dark, this one was yet another wonderfully suspenseful read.
Six years ago, Warren Critch, accosted homicide detective Jacob Knight in a darkened Cincinnati alley, holding him at gunpoint and accusing him of wanting to kill his wife, Belinda Critch, a sexy, flirty, body-fluid-removal expert, was murdered. Rookie cop, Romana Grey, disarmed and arrested Critch, saving Knight's life.
Two days later, Belinda Critch was found shot in her apartment.
Now, Critch is out of prison and bent on revenge. He wants both Romana, now a criminology professor, and Jacob, still a Detective, to pay for his wife's death with their own lives.
Jacob and Romana form a reluctant partnership to try to find Critch before he finds them, and uncover the truth behind Belinda's murders. As Critch moves closer, the clues and suspects keep piling up, and soon Critch isn't the only danger on Cincinnati streets. The murdered would do anything to keep his identity secret.
This book, as the previous I read by Jenna Ryan, had it all. Edge-of-the-seat suspense, dark secrets and even darker pasts, contradictory clues pointing from one suspect to the next, keeping the reader guessing, great chemistry between Jacob and Romana, and even greater sparkage. Ooh, boy.
In the comment section of one of my reviews, Dina, Danielle and I discussed the HQ Intrigue stories' penchant for focusing more on the suspense plot and a little less on romance...And even that little romance there is, is lukewarm at best, with no chemistry, no sparks, and no tension.
Well, Ms. Ryan proves herself to be the exception to that rule, because she once again incorporated a great, scorching hot romance story into the greater suspense plot. Incorporated it so well, it tangles nicely with the mystery, never letting up, but still never slowing the pace down. It just simply fits.
The characterization was yet again wonderful, with realistically flawed characters, wonderfully snarky dialogs (loved Romana in this one), and so many sideline stories that it could be confusing if they weren't so well tangled into the main storyline.
The clues as to whodunnit were numerous, pointing in different directions at once, offering multiple suspects, discarding others, bringing up new ones, even knotted enough to from time to time point at the hero, making everybody wonder just what in the blazes did happen that night sex years ago.
A definite keeper!
Six years ago, Warren Critch, accosted homicide detective Jacob Knight in a darkened Cincinnati alley, holding him at gunpoint and accusing him of wanting to kill his wife, Belinda Critch, a sexy, flirty, body-fluid-removal expert, was murdered. Rookie cop, Romana Grey, disarmed and arrested Critch, saving Knight's life.
Two days later, Belinda Critch was found shot in her apartment.
Now, Critch is out of prison and bent on revenge. He wants both Romana, now a criminology professor, and Jacob, still a Detective, to pay for his wife's death with their own lives.
Jacob and Romana form a reluctant partnership to try to find Critch before he finds them, and uncover the truth behind Belinda's murders. As Critch moves closer, the clues and suspects keep piling up, and soon Critch isn't the only danger on Cincinnati streets. The murdered would do anything to keep his identity secret.
This book, as the previous I read by Jenna Ryan, had it all. Edge-of-the-seat suspense, dark secrets and even darker pasts, contradictory clues pointing from one suspect to the next, keeping the reader guessing, great chemistry between Jacob and Romana, and even greater sparkage. Ooh, boy.
In the comment section of one of my reviews, Dina, Danielle and I discussed the HQ Intrigue stories' penchant for focusing more on the suspense plot and a little less on romance...And even that little romance there is, is lukewarm at best, with no chemistry, no sparks, and no tension.
Well, Ms. Ryan proves herself to be the exception to that rule, because she once again incorporated a great, scorching hot romance story into the greater suspense plot. Incorporated it so well, it tangles nicely with the mystery, never letting up, but still never slowing the pace down. It just simply fits.
The characterization was yet again wonderful, with realistically flawed characters, wonderfully snarky dialogs (loved Romana in this one), and so many sideline stories that it could be confusing if they weren't so well tangled into the main storyline.
The clues as to whodunnit were numerous, pointing in different directions at once, offering multiple suspects, discarding others, bringing up new ones, even knotted enough to from time to time point at the hero, making everybody wonder just what in the blazes did happen that night sex years ago.
A definite keeper!
December 6, 2010
Six years ago, Warren Critch, accosted homicide detective Jacob Knight in a darkened Cincinnati alley, holding him at gunpoint and accusing him of wanting to kill his wife, Belinda Critch, a sexy, flirty, body-fluid-removal expert, was murdered. Rookie cop, Romana Grey, disarmed and arrested Critch, saving Knight's life.
Two days later, Belinda Critch was found shot in her apartment.
Now, Critch is out of prison and bent on revenge. He wants both Romana, now a criminology professor, and Jacob, still a Detective, to pay for his wife's death with their own lives.
Jacob and Romana form a reluctant partnership to try to find Critch before he finds them, and uncover the truth behind Belinda's murders. As Critch moves closer, the clues and suspects keep piling up, and soon Critch isn't the only danger on Cincinnati streets. The murdered would do anything to keep his identity secret.
This book had it all. Edge-of-the-seat suspense, dark secrets and even darker pasts, contradictory clues pointing from one suspect to the next, keeping the reader guessing, great chemistry between Jacob and Romana, and even greater sparkage. Ooh, boy.
Most of HQ Intrigue stories tend to focuse more on the suspense plot and a little less on romance...And even that little romance there is, is lukewarm at best, with no chemistry, no sparks, and no tension.
Well, Ms. Ryan proves herself to be the exception to that rule, because she once again incorporated a great, scorching hot romance story into the greater suspense plot. Incorporated it so well, it tangles nicely with the mystery, never letting up, but still never slowing the pace down. It just simply fits.
The characterization was wonderful, with realistically flawed characters, wonderfully snarky dialogs (loved Romana in this one), and so many sideline stories that it could be confusing if they weren't so well tangled into the main storyline.
The clues as to whodunnit were numerous, pointing in different directions at once, offering multiple suspects, discarding others, bringing up new ones, even knotted enough to, from time to time, point at the hero, making everybody wonder just what in the blazes did happen that night six years ago.
A definite keeper!
Two days later, Belinda Critch was found shot in her apartment.
Now, Critch is out of prison and bent on revenge. He wants both Romana, now a criminology professor, and Jacob, still a Detective, to pay for his wife's death with their own lives.
Jacob and Romana form a reluctant partnership to try to find Critch before he finds them, and uncover the truth behind Belinda's murders. As Critch moves closer, the clues and suspects keep piling up, and soon Critch isn't the only danger on Cincinnati streets. The murdered would do anything to keep his identity secret.
This book had it all. Edge-of-the-seat suspense, dark secrets and even darker pasts, contradictory clues pointing from one suspect to the next, keeping the reader guessing, great chemistry between Jacob and Romana, and even greater sparkage. Ooh, boy.
Most of HQ Intrigue stories tend to focuse more on the suspense plot and a little less on romance...And even that little romance there is, is lukewarm at best, with no chemistry, no sparks, and no tension.
Well, Ms. Ryan proves herself to be the exception to that rule, because she once again incorporated a great, scorching hot romance story into the greater suspense plot. Incorporated it so well, it tangles nicely with the mystery, never letting up, but still never slowing the pace down. It just simply fits.
The characterization was wonderful, with realistically flawed characters, wonderfully snarky dialogs (loved Romana in this one), and so many sideline stories that it could be confusing if they weren't so well tangled into the main storyline.
The clues as to whodunnit were numerous, pointing in different directions at once, offering multiple suspects, discarding others, bringing up new ones, even knotted enough to, from time to time, point at the hero, making everybody wonder just what in the blazes did happen that night six years ago.
A definite keeper!
dnf
December 11, 2020I read a lot of series books out of order, but this one didn't work for me. By the third chapter so many characters and relationships had been thrown at me that I just gave up. Trying to keep track of everyone, who they were going with or married to, who they'd been going with or married to, etc. was too much.
February 18, 2016
I really liked. It's almost 10 years old, but isn't dated at all. Loved the leads - Romana was smart-mouthed, confident, and while she had appropriate misgivings about certain things, was never whiney or angsty. Jacob was a little harder to read - maybe too quiet hero type - but he wasn't an alpha jerk or set against women for a ridiculous reason in his past. The suspense was definitely the main plot line, but the romance was very nice - enough steam, enough sweetness.
The suspense plot was good, there were several very plausible villains and multiple crimes to go around. The ending wrapped everything up but very realistically. Since everyone knew each other there was a definite sense of bittersweet.
The suspense plot was good, there were several very plausible villains and multiple crimes to go around. The ending wrapped everything up but very realistically. Since everyone knew each other there was a definite sense of bittersweet.
April 29, 2011
Review by Jen:
Mistletoe and Murder by Jenna Ryan is a romantic suspense. Romana and Jacob are receiving threatening Christmas cards that elude to a murder investigation they were part of years before. They team up to find the killer and stop the threats and find passion in addition to the truth.
This story leans more towards suspense than romance, and there is nothing wrong with that… although I was expecting more romance considering it is a Harlequin title. I enjoyed the mystery, but felt that there were too many characters introduced and that muddled the story for me. All in all, I liked the story and will try other books by Ms. Ryan, a new-to-me author.
Mistletoe and Murder by Jenna Ryan is a romantic suspense. Romana and Jacob are receiving threatening Christmas cards that elude to a murder investigation they were part of years before. They team up to find the killer and stop the threats and find passion in addition to the truth.
This story leans more towards suspense than romance, and there is nothing wrong with that… although I was expecting more romance considering it is a Harlequin title. I enjoyed the mystery, but felt that there were too many characters introduced and that muddled the story for me. All in all, I liked the story and will try other books by Ms. Ryan, a new-to-me author.
April 22, 2013
This one swings more the the mystery side than the romance (which surprised me a little cuz, y'know, HARLEQUIN). Good read, I enjoyed trying to solve the mystery along with the characters. I think I might have solved it a little quicker than they did ;).
December 9, 2016
I've read at least one other Christmas murder/romance by this author that I liked better than this one. It seemed to start in the middle of the story and parcel out bits of the history a little at a time mixed in with current time.
September 3, 2011
This is a first-rate romantic suspense with great characters and a interesting plot.
December 29, 2012
A little to over the top in places but what is fiction for right?
August 6, 2016
Some nice twists.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews