Author: Hank Phillippi Ryan
ISBN: 9780778327196
Publisher: Mira Books (Harlequin)

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Author Hank Phillippi Ryan is an award-winning investigative reporter at Boston’s NBC affiliate. She has twenty-six Emmy’s and ten Edward R. Murrow Awards, along with dozens of other national and international journalism honors. Her work has resulted in new laws, homes removed from foreclosure, criminals sent to prison, and millions of dollars in restitution. Before her reporting career, she was a proofreader, a radio reporter, an Editorial Assistant at Rolling Stone, and a legislative aide in the US Senate. Other titles include: Face Time (August 2009) and Prime Time (coming July 2009.) She resides just outside of Boston, MA, with her husband.

Hot on the trail of her next story, veteran TV reporter Charlotte McNally is thrown into the glamorous world of high fashion. Going undercover in an attempt to infiltrate a ring of counterfeit designers, Charlie soon discovers there’s much more at stake than fake purses and rip-off’s. The lies and deception run deep, taking her on a whirlwind through airports, the FBI, and even her own backyard. No one can be trusted and the danger is very real. Even with the danger to her own heart, Charlie must struggle to answer a life-altering question from her handsome professor boyfriend, hoping it’s not the last decision she makes.

This is book three, the last in the Charlotte McNally Mystery series. As stated before in the two other reviews, these are cozy mysteries with romantic elements. In book one, Charlotte meets Josh. In book two, they continue the relationship with his daughter struggling to accept Charlotte. In book three, they are forced to evaluate their relationship when her job begins to come between them. I don’t want to put up a spoiler alert, so I’ll be vague in saying that the only issue I had with the book was the seemingly swift acceptance regarding the relationship at the end. I would have liked a little more bend on both ends as a buffer for compromise.

In saying that, I’ll reverse T.S. Elliot’s quote to say that this book ended with a bang and not a whimper. The action was edge-of-your-seat and fast-paced. The secondary characters, Franklin and Penny, were adorable and added nicely to the story. The investigation, as with the two other books, was spot-on and intriguing. This book was not as laugh-out-loud humorous as the first two, and that’s not a reprimand, because it flowed smoothly with the relationship, her decision, and story at the time. Not that there wasn’t ‘any’ humor, I recall laughing several times, just not ‘as’ humorous.

The entire series is a recommended read!

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