September 4, 2000
Stuart (Shadow Lover) crafts another steaming suspense novel with this tale of ghosts, revenge and lust in Southern California. Jilly Meyer single-handedly holds together one of L.A.'s most dysfunctional families, mothering her adult siblings, Dean and Rachel-Ann. Despite pressure from their villainous multimillionaire father, Jackson Meyer, Jilly won't abandon her siblings or their crumbling Sunset Boulevard mansion, which he wants to have demolished. La Casa de Sombras (House of Shadows) was the scene of a notorious Hollywood murder-suicide in the '50s, and glamorous ghosts still haunt the lonely place, seen only by fragile, recovering substance abuser Rachel-Ann. Enter Coltrane, a solitary, enigmatic, drop-dead gorgeous man who manages Jackson's legal affairs. Convinced Jackson murdered his mother years ago, Coltrane is bent on revenge, sabotaging Jackson's illegal business dealings and planning to seduce one of his daughters. The sexual tension between stubborn, long-legged Jilly and Coltrane is palpable, and the secondary romance between Rachel-Ann and her long-lost love is endearing. Incest, sex, multiple murders, sex, betrayal, sex--it's the usual enthralling mix fans expect from Stuart, arguably romantic suspense's most popular novelist.