#BookReview: The Dragon in Winter (Kagen the Damned #3) by @JonathanMaberry

The Dragon in Winter brings New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry's epic Kagen the Damned Trilogy to a wild conclusion!

War is coming! War is here! The Witch-king of Hakkia, aided by terrifying dark forces, sits uneasy on his stolen throne. His enemies, led by Kagen the Damned and the Bloody Bastards have found the secrets of ancient magic they hope will defeat him. Strange forces gather on both sides – vast armies of both the living and the dead, devious trickster spirits, strange gods, warrior ghosts, undying vampires, blood plagues that drive people to murderous rage, immortal faeries, and Earth’s last dragon.

Kagen knows that he faces the impossible task of toppling a usurper whose dark magic conquered an empire in a single night. But the Damned fear nothing and there are no limits to what Kagen will do to destroy the Witch-king. With his allies he will tear apart the veils that separate our world from the infinite realms of supernatural magic. The Witch-king will not go down with a fight, and he is willing to drown the western lands in innocent blood to retain his stolen crown. Even if he rules over an empire of dust and blood. His power is growing and soon he will be unstoppable.

But they are not the only forces at work in the world. Magic of all kinds is awakening and who can tell which side they will pick…or if they will pose a new and terrible threat to all! In the frozen North, the last dragon –tortured, captive, dying― cries out in despair. In the inky vastness of the outer dark that cry is heard! And something of incalculable power is coming in answer.

#BookTour: My Calling Chronicles of An Alaskan Hospice Nurse by Esther Pepper RN, BSN, CHPN @RABTBookTours

 

Insight and education for end-of-life care

Nonfiction

Date Published: 12/1/2024

 

 

The Chronicles are an essential and informative read for hospice nurses, caregivers and others interested in end of life. Journey through 29 amazing stories of an Alaskan Hospice nurse with incredible people and learn about pain, symptom management and grieving. Through their love and loss, find encouragement and inspiration in these real-life lessons on this specialty of nursing not taught in the classroom. Hospice . . . Hospitum . . . Hospitality

#CoverReveal for Crossroads of Love by Kris Abbott @GiveMeBooksPR

Title: Crossroads of Love

Series: Hicks Creek #1

Author: Kris Abbott

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Tropes: Small Town/Slow Burn/Alpha Male

Forbidden Romance/Second Chance

Cover Design: Jay Aheer, Simply Defined Art

Release Date: March 4, 2025

BLURB

Returning to my small hometown was never part of the plan—but life has a way of forcing your hand.

I’m Gavin Wells—wealthy, divorced, and carrying enough baggage to fill this tiny town. My father’s funeral should’ve been a quick in-and-out, but nothing about coming home is ever that simple. Especially when it means facing her.

Lena Marshall—my brother’s widow, the girl I once loved, and the one I’ve never really let go. Seeing her again stirs up feelings we both thought we’d buried. But with the past comes secrets, and my family’s skeletons are clawing their way out, threatening to shatter Lena’s trust—and her heart—all over again.

Walking away would be easier. Safer. But I’ve spent too long running from my demons. Now, I have to prove I’m not the man who runs, but the one who fights—for her, for us, and for the second chance we both deserve.

#BookTour: Autumn Death by L.A. Brown @RRBookTours1

 

In book one of the Bird Girl Witches series, the mystical realm of The Korvids is being terrorized by a dark force, and a young, psychic girl may be the only one who can stop it. Arabel Spade is just 17 years old, but holds the gift of extraordinary supernatural abilities. When a series of brutal murders rock her hometown, she is determined to use her powers to solve the crimes and protect her people. But tracking the killer puts her on a collision course with the sinister Dorojenja – evil sorcerers intent on putting an end to her investigation, if not her life. As the bodies pile up, Arabel must navigate a web of secrets, betray her cold-hearted grandmother’s wishes, and forge alliances with mysterious magical factions like the Travelers. 

#ReleaseBlitz: Infestation by Aileen Erin @RRBookTours1

Happy publication day to author Aileen Erin! Infestation is now available!

Infestation (Days of Iron and Clay Book 2)

Publication Date: January 21, 2025

Genre: YA Dark Fantasy

Good v. Evil

Found Family

Angels & Demons

Slow Burn Romance

YA Dark Fantasy

“Invocation is a brilliantly crafted, action-packed romantasy thriller you won’t be able to put down.” – Erin Michelle Sky, Author

SAMANTHA

I never thought I’d willingly walk into Hell again, but I did.

I survived and am back where I belong—at home. But Gabe, my demon-dead friend, is still missing. And the guilt is crippling me.

While I’m laughing and happy with my boyfriend, Gabe is suffering. While I’m resting and healing, Gabe is being endlessly tortured. But every plan I come up with is a suicide mission. And despite what it sometimes looks like, I’m not ready to die.

So, when my werewolf friends ask me to help their pack with a problem, there’s no way I can say no—even if I’m not ready to jump into another fight. There’s a mysterious evil the werewolves can’t track, and they need me to help them kill it.

It’s the perfect distraction. The only problem? Phoenix, a mortal, wants to go with me.

Even though he’s proven he can handle the supernatural, I can’t help but think nothing good can come from him getting an even better glimpse of how not normal my work life is. But I can’t say no to him; all I can do is pray Phoenix is still by my side when this is over.

PHOENIX

My life pre-Samantha was turmoil. Soccer career, over. Family life, devastated after the loss of my grandmother. Dating? Laughable. Every relationship fell apart because the door in my heart had been shut tight. I was unknowingly holding out for the one girl who had completely changed my world.

Samantha is it for me; my heart knew it before I did. I’d go anywhere as long as it’s with her.

But her guardian angel, Eli, said something to me that makes me think something truly terrible will happen to Samantha. And I’m not about to let that happen. I’ll do anything to keep her safe.

“I absolutely loved this book, it blew my mind…I laughed, I cried, I swooned…it’s a heartfelt epic adventure! – Sheila Kay, Author

AUTHOR NOTE: The Days of Iron & Clay is a spin-off the Alpha Girls Series, but can be fully enjoyed alone and is best enjoyed in order! Infestation picks up right where Invocation left off. Be sure to read Invocation first!

#TeaserTuesday: Breaker by Harley Wylde @RABTBookTours

Motorcycle Club Romance, Age Gap, Suspense

Date Published: January 24, 2025

 

 

In the shadows of a world where danger lurks around every corner and loyalty and love can be the deadliest weapons of all, two souls are drawn together by fate.

Juniper -- I was only fifteen when I ran away from home. Or rather, the nightmare I’d ended up in, after my parents died. I’d known living on the streets wouldn’t be easy, but I also hadn’t planned to nearly freeze to death in an alley five years later. The biker who found me, nursed me back to health, and promised to keep me safe was unlike anyone I’d ever met before. When we found out my uncle would be paroled, there was no doubt he’d try to find me. After all, he’d think I was the one who turned him in. But somewhere along the way, I started to fall in love with Breaker. Now I’ll do anything for him.

Breaker -- I’ve been with the Hades Abyss since I was a teenager. Back then I went by Teller Reed, until I earned my patch. These people are my family. I never thought I’d be willing to break all the rules and defy the club president. Then I found Juniper nearly dead in an alley. I’ve always believed in Fate, and I have no doubt I was led to her for a reason. Now she’s mine, and I’ll do whatever it takes to hold onto her… even if it means getting my hands dirty. If her uncle thinks he can come and take her from me, he’d better reconsider… because if he even tries, I’m putting him six feet under.

As nights grow darker and stakes escalate, will their bond be enough to withstand the ultimate test?

#CoverReveal: Disgracefully Easy (A B-24 Pilot's Letters Home) by William Hanchett with Thomas F. Hanchett @RABTBookTours

 

A B-24 Pilot’s Letters Home

 

Memoir/WWII History

Date Published: April 8th, 2025

Publisher: Acorn Publishing

 

In this posthumously published collection of letters and postal cards, William “Bill” Hanchett shares his candid experiences as a flight-school cadet, and later as an Army Air Forces pilot in command of a B-24 Liberator bomber during World War II.

Through Bill’s first-hand accounts, we learn that mastering the art of flying during wartime is about more than understanding engine throttle and airspeed. It’s about wondering when you’ll be called to fight and if you’ll be asked to betray your ideals. It’s about working hard and documenting the days, dreaming about the future, and longing for home.

An extraordinary primary document, Disgracefully Easy offers us a rare glimpse inside the military in the 1940s, a time when Americans worried about the fate of their great country and looked to the brave and courageous to deliver them from fear. This unique collection will be long remembered as an important addition to the annals of aviation history.

#BookReview: Of Silver and Sin (The Silver Court Duology, #1) by Kaytalin Platt

She kills creatures like him. He eats beautiful people like her. It's a partnership made in hell.

Like every female orphaned by the Queens War, Tenele Raider is a monster hunter—a Maiden of the Red Court. When the border between her home and its volatile neighbor falls, Tenele is tasked with discovering the source of the black runes burned into the bodies left behind.

To help in this, she’s partnered with a Shade—a conniving beast who feeds on pleasure and pain. Being Ranemir Stroud's jailer and reluctant partner is both a help and hindrance, and as their connection morphs from convenience to necessity, Tenele finds herself sharing more than she bargained to keep them both alive.

As their journey to the truth becomes a path to the warring gods who made them, Tenele is forced to choose between the monster in her bed (and heart) and the destiny she was born to die for.

Of Silver & Sin is the first in an adult dark fantasy romance duology featuring spice.

#BookTour: Secretary of Earth by K.C. Boyd @RABTBookTours

Political thriller, Dystopian theocracy, Corporate Oligarchy

Date Published: October 31, 2024

Publisher: ‎Rebel Island Press

 

 

Lies, fear, and the Holy Bible are the country’s undoing in K.C. Boyd’s second, dystopian tale, a story that all too closely resembles an America in which Project 2025 rules. Vividly depicting the present-day racism, greed, and religious hypocrisy, Secretary of Faith serves as a cautionary warning to Project 2025.

After an orchestrated victory, the newly elected President redefines the country by changing its name to the United Christian States of America. Next, he reduces the traditional number of seats in his cabinet to four, and adds a fifth, the Department of Faith, appointing his lifetime mentor, Christian Hillcox, as its first ever Secretary.

The rule of law is no more. Sanctioned by the administration, violent mobs take to the streets. Media is state-run; neighbors inform on neighbors; loved ones vanish, never to return. When a natural disaster strikes the West Coast, an already well-organized Resistance emerges and Secretary Hillcox finds himself in a battle to maintain both the administration’s narrative and his own position through evermore frightening means.

In a showdown between Good and Evil, the question is—will citizens rise to the occasion and save the Republic?

#BookReview: The House by the Cemetery by Lisa Childs

Six Feet Under meets Succession with a gothic twist after the suspicious death of a midwestern funeral home empire’s wealthy patriarch in New York Times bestselling author Lisa Childs’ dark, twisty, horror-tinged new series for readers of Megan Collins, Samantha Downing, Stacy Willingham, and Rachel Hawkins.

In Gold Creek, Michigan, legend has that the ghost of a local grave digger still walks the cemetery, swinging his shovel, looking for his next victim to bury. But when the town’s wealthy undertaker dies, his estranged daughter must contend with the ghosts that haunt her own family . . .

After she left home at seventeen, River Gold swore she would never return to Gold Creek. Growing up at the Gold Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens was a nightmare. Classmates constantly teased her for being part of the “Ghoul” family, while her own family denied that she was actually a Gold. Her father, undertaker Gregory Gold, certainly never acted like a father. He was far more interested in profiting off other people’s tragedies. But now Gregory has died. And River has surrendered to her mother, Fiona’s, pleas that she come back for his funeral.

But the mourning period is cut short when it’s revealed that Gregory died of poisoning—and Fiona is arrested for his murder. Clearly, Fiona, his third wife and the funeral home’s cosmetologist, is being framed. There are plenty of more likely suspects, and River is determined to prove her mother’s innocence. That she’ll have to work with the sheriff—her high school enemy—is a small price to pay.

With a fortune at stake, River is sure the killer lies among Gregory’s first two wives, their children, and grandchildren. Yet soon, other discoveries will be made, and longstanding secrets unearthed. But when teenagers start disappearing from the cemetery, the danger hits closer to home than River imagined possible. Drawn back into the lives—and lies—of the Golds—she’ll have to use her every resource to keep herself, and her loved ones, safe.

#BookReview: Haunted to Death (Domestic Partners in Crime #3) by Frank Anthony Polito

This All Hallows’ Eve, partners and home renovation hosts Peter Penwell and JP Broadway try not to flip when their newest fixer-upper is rumored to be a haunted house . . . Kicking off season three of their hit reality TV show Domestic Partners is a home renovation project with an irresistible hook. Woods Hall is a lavish 1913 manor home in the Detroit suburb of Pleasant Woods, once belonging to the town’s founding family. It also comes with its own ghost. Twenty-five years ago during a Halloween night party, automotive heiress and beauty queen Emma Wheeler-Woods, wearing a white Princess Diana wedding gown as a costume, fell from a third-floor balcony to her death. Or was she pushed? Fiona Forrest recently inherited the home after learning she was Emma’s daughter, and she and her fiancé have hired the Domestic Partners to restore the family property to its original splendor. But ghostly sightings, injured crew, secret passageways, locked rooms, and sabotage beg the Is the place actually haunted? And perhaps more practically, was Fiona’s mother murdered? Hustling to have work finished in time to shoot the finale on Halloween—the anniversary of Emma’s mysterious death—do Peter and JP have a ghost of a chance of also solving a cold case from a quarter of a century ago before someone else takes a fall?

#BookReview: The Midnight Girls by Alicia Jasinska

The Wicked Deep meets House of Salt and Sorrows in this new standalone YA fantasy set in a snow-cloaked kingdom where witches are burned, and two enchantresses secretly compete for the heart of a prince, only to discover that they might be falling for each other.

It's Karnawał season in the snow-cloaked Kingdom of Lechija, and from now until midnight when the church bells ring an end to Devil's Tuesday time will be marked with wintry balls and glittery disguises, cavalcades of nightly torch-lit "kuligi" sleigh-parties.

Unbeknownst to the oblivious merrymakers, two monsters join the fun, descending upon the royal city of Warszów in the guise of two innocent girls. Newfound friends and polar opposites, Zosia and Marynka seem destined to have a friendship that's stronger even than magic. But that's put to the test when they realize they both have their sights set on Lechija's pure-hearted prince. A pure heart contains immeasurable power and Marynka plans to bring the prince's back to her grandmother in order to prove herself. While Zosia is determined to take his heart and its power for her own.

When neither will sacrifice their ambitions for the other, the festivities spiral into a wild contest with both girls vying to keep the hapless prince out of the other's wicked grasp. But this isn't some remote forest village, where a hint of stray magic might go unnoticed, Warszów is the icy capital of a kingdom that enjoys watching monsters burn, and if Zosia and Marynka's innocent disguises continue to slip, their escalating rivalry might cost them not just the love they might have for each other, but both their lives.

#BookTour: Never Broken by Everly Claire @RRBookTours1

Never Broken (The Unchained)

Publication Date: January 15, 2025

Genre: Dark Fantasy Romance in a Dystopian World

Forbidden Love

Dark Dystopian World

Rich Girl/Poor Boy

Enemies to Lovers

Morally Gray MMC

Us Against the World

Captivity

Forced Proximity

Touch Her and 💀

Hurt/Comfort

Spice in Secret

The rules say we can’t touch. The only solution? Burn them all ...

New North America, 2025

Louisa

My family name is an empire. I was destined for a fortune built on the bloodied backs of slaves.

But I’m one failed college course away from losing it all.

The only one who can help me is my father’s newest purchase: the golden-haired slave with eyes too sharp for hard labor, with hands that should be discovering universes, not locked in shackles. The one who just whispered something shocking as he passed me with the wheelbarrow.

The one I know is dangerous.

His words don’t matter. He’s here to clean gutters, not to teach me, not to save me, and definitely not to make me spiral with every stolen glance.

We’re forbidden. He shouldn’t look at me. He’s not allowed to touch me.

And I won’t let him. Not my hand, not my heart, not anything …

773496S6

A number. Not a name. That’s all I’ve ever been to them. I’ve been whipped, chained, beaten, and brutalized by everyone who’s ever owned me.

But never broken.

And now I’ve clawed and schemed my way through pain and grief to get to this manicured wasteland, find my sister, and kill those who stole her away. So what if one of them is my new master?

And If I have to use his spoiled brat daughter to do it, fine. I’ve spent my whole life playing their game, but this time, she’ll be a pawn in mine.

Except, okay, Louisa’s not spoiled. She’s brave, she’s learning, and she’s making me want things I’m not allowed to want. Things I won’t allow myself to want.

They stole everything else from me. I’ll never give my heart, too.

But here, just one broken rule can kill you, so we might just have to shatter all of them.

Starting with the ones we made for ourselves.

Never Broken is your first taste of an epic, twisty, us-against-the-world forbidden romance trilogy set in a chilling dystopia a little too much like ours. Although the world and themes are dark and potentially triggering, the romance has a soft side. This book ends with a combined happy-for-now and a cliffhanger that will make you gasp. And with Never Bound and Never Lost, you get a complete arc with a guaranteed happily-ever-after.

#BookReview: The Four by Ellie Keel

"I don’t regret what we did. And I would do it all again."

Each of the four had, for their own reasons, been desperate to come to High Realms. Marta, Rose, Sami, and Lloyd beat out thousands of applicants for spots at one of the most exclusive private schools in the UK, whose alumni can be found at the highest levels of society. As the only scholarship students in the class of 1999, the four form a crucial comradery as they navigate the school’s web of rivalries, honor, loyalty, and revenge.

Because within the maze of red brick buildings, between the stables and the vast old library, a sinister undercurrent of violence is brewing. And when one of the four reveals a devastating secret, each of the friends must wonder what risks they will take to remain at High Realms.

What follows is a hauntingly atmospheric and compulsively page-turning academic noir that explores the secretive world of elite institutions and the complex and often dangerous bonds of friendship.

A dark academia suspense debut perfect for fans of The Secret History and If We Were Villains, The Four follows a group of scholarship students whose dreams become a reality when they are accepted into an exclusive boarding school, but they are soon bound by a dark secret that could save one of them… or destroy them all.

#BookReview: Long Live Evil (Time of Iron #1) by Sarah Rees Brennan

A TALE FOR EVERYONE WHO’S EVER FALLEN FOR THE VILLAIN…

When her whole life collapsed, Rae still had books. Dying, she seizes a second chance at living: a magical bargain that lets her enter the world of her favourite fantasy series.

She wakes in a castle on the edge of a hellish chasm, in a kingdom on the brink of war. Home to dangerous monsters, scheming courtiers and her favourite fictional character: the Once and Forever Emperor. He’s impossibly alluring, as only fiction can be. And in this fantasy world, she discovers she's not the heroine, but the villainess in the Emperor's tale.

So be it. The wicked are better dressed, with better one-liners, even if they're doomed to bad ends. She assembles the wildly disparate villains of the story under her evil leadership, plotting to change their fate. But as the body count rises and the Emperor's fury increases, it seems Rae and her allies may not survive to see the final page.

This adult epic fantasy debut from Sarah Rees Brennan puts the reader in the villain's shoes, for an adventure that is both 'brilliant' (Holly Black) and 'supremely satisfying' (Leigh Bardugo). Expect a rogue's gallery of villains including an axe wielding maid, a shining knight with dark moods, a homicidal bodyguard, and a playboy spymaster with a golden heart and a filthy reputation.

#BookBlitz: Surviving Karma by Mark Nistor @RABTBookTours

The Karma Series, Book 2

 

Literary Fiction, Mystery

Date Published: November 9, 2024

 

Officer Bella Streit's abduction has yet to make headlines. Her captor once again humiliates police by nabbing Captain Stark's protective detail from the precinct parking lot. Her predecessor, the third officer taken, adds to the comedic nature of embarrassing the police. Taken from the scene of an accident, Officer Tauron Sandoval's handling reflects the lengths at which Pin will go to feed his hunger. Now with Bella secured, Pin no longer needing Tauron leaves her to a fast moving hourglass of life. Her minimal sands flow as two other officers succumb.

Pin seeks revenge through torturing those he deems as old police. Detectives Rix and Jain work the case. They find a roadmap offering clues to the serial killer's endgame. The roadmap given to them by informants. However, unknown by the detectives is Pin also has informants feeding him information. Double agent informants play their roles as if trained spies. Both parties question the loyalties while traversing to the ultimate showdown.

Surviving Karma will require finding the common ingredient to their sandwiches of life.

#BookTour: Growing Up Girl Untethered by Caroline S. Fairless @RABTBookTours

Growing Up Girl, Book I

 

Fiction

Date Published: September 10, 2024

 

 

In Growing Up Girl: Book One, a young Bernadette Aller floats through her life - job to job, lover to lover, place to place. She is an untethered spirit trying to find her way in a world that's not been too kind.

Now, as she barrels toward her seventies, she wants to tell her story, not because it's hers alone, but because it's a surprisingly common story. It's a story much of which happens behind doors that display the word unspeakable. Bernadette hires Scully Trippe to ghost write, translating Bernadette's personal experience into the third person, in what might (or might not) be a misguided attempt to extend the story's reach.

The time frame is malleable, with the storytelling moving back and forth through several stages of Bernadette's life.

In this first book of the Growing Up Girl trilogy, BernadetteWorld is populated with Patience, her housekeeper; Maddie, a former lover and now a ghost; and Lucinda, a time traveler who drops in and out.

It's a quirky group.

#BookishDiscussion: Tell Us About the Books You WISH Existed!

Bookish Discussion: Tell Us About the Books You WISH Existed!

As readers, we often get lost in the pages of a book, imagining what could be next, or wishing for a story that would capture our hearts in just the right way. Sometimes, there’s a gap in the book world—one where the book we really want to read doesn’t yet exist. Whether it’s a niche genre, a unique plot twist, or a character dynamic we’ve never seen before, there are always books we dream about but have yet to find.

So, let’s talk about it: What are the books you wish existed? Here are some ideas to get the conversation started: Know any books that match these prompts?  Let us know in the comments!! 

#BookReview: Death Scene (Witch City Mystery #14) by Carol J. Perry

It takes a lot for Salem locals to get excited about their historic Massachusetts town being known as “the witch city.” But when a major studio arrives to shoot a witchcraft-themed movie, folks go Hollywood. For WICH-TV’S program director and chief documentary-maker, Lee Barrett, however, the project may come complete with a real-life death scene . . .

Between documenting the progress of the movie, corralling starstruck autograph seekers and fans, and managing unmanageable traffic on Salem’s narrow streets, Lee and her police detective husband, Pete Mondello, are beyond busy. Even Lee’s best friend, River North, tarot card reader and practicing witch, gets in on the action, landing a job as a stand-in and body double. But it only takes one interview for Lee to realize that the male and female leads—whose roles include torrid love scenes—despise each other. Yet the problem is short-lived, literally . . .

When the gorgeous lead actress is found dead on a set staged to replicate the room where suspected witches were tried in 1692—and her on-screen lover, in full costume, is discovered sound asleep in her trailer—the hunt is on for a killer on the loose. Nevertheless, the producer decrees “the show must go on!” Now, even with help from River, Lee’s Aunt Ibby, and O’Ryan, a remarkably clairvoyant gentleman cat, sorting out a witch’s brew of secrets, sorcery, and special effects might turn Lee’s documentary into her own final act . . .

#BookReview: Miss Morton and the Deadly Inheritance (Miss Morton Mysteries, #3) by Catherine Lloyd

Social standing is everything in Regency England—and no one knows better than Miss Caroline Morton, a lady’s companion from a disgraced line. But when she has a chance to claim what’s rightfully hers, the one obstacle in her way is a dangerous murder mystery . . .

Miss Caroline has doubts when she receives an urgent invitation from a London law firm to discuss her late father’s estate. After all, the dishonored Earl of Morton died without a pound sterling to pass on to his two daughters. But while immersing herself in helping Mrs. Frogerton’s capricious daughter navigate the high social season, Caroline meets with a cagey lawyer, Mr. Smith, who shares life-altering news—the earl composed a second will, leaving behind an undisclosed fortune.

Mrs. Frogerton, however, is thoroughly unimpressed with the firm’s conduct and suspicious of their true motives. Her instinct proves right when the two ladies find the office ransacked, staff in turmoil, and Mr. Smith missing. The full weight of the situation doesn’t sink in until Mr. Smith dies following a brutal attack on the street—discovered with an empty envelope bearing Caroline’s name in his pocket.

With a connection forming between two deaths at the firm, Caroline can’t imagine why anyone would kill twice over the contents of a will. Further complicating matters is the amorous Mr. DeBloom—who claims his mother goaded the earl into making bad investments and promises to link Caroline to her inheritance—and the disappearance of Susan, her younger sister. As Caroline unwittingly becomes the center of both a criminal case and a sordid love triangle, she must tread with caution while seeking the truth . . . because someone is waiting to reduce her to nothing more than a signature on a dotted line.