Phantom Lover: (Harlequin Intrigue #706) by Rebecca York

Great gothic romanceby harstan

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March 24, 2003: Helen London asks her friend Bonnie ?Bree? Brennan of the Light Street Detective Agency for help. Helen?s brother Troy, a widower for about a year, has vanished except for his emails, but those seem so out of character for him. The sleuth agrees to learn what is going on....................... On the drive north of San Francisco to Troy?s home Ravencrest, Helen thinks back to her attraction to the owner when they met seven years ago, but alas nothing came of it as she had to leave. At the estate she informs the housekeeper that she was just hired to teach Troy?s daughter six years old Dinah. The Sterlings, who live in the mansion and act like the owners, question the newcomer and treat Bree as hired help. Once settled, it is the ghostly sounds of Troy that frighten the undercover sleuth, but courage comes from the waif Dinah who needs her and the haunting comments of the weird residents who claim the owner is a prisoner inside his walls. Though scared, Bree searches for the missing Troy not yet realizing the danger she faces....................... The latest 43 Light St. tale is an exciting modern day gothic romance with all the usual sub-genre elements that light up the book from the moment lightning strikes as Bree arrives at Ravencrest. The story line will hook fans fully appreciative of Bree?s concerns for father and daughter as the eerie and the dangerous seem in control of the foreboding edifice. The stereotyped secondary cast fits quite nicely inside the gothic atmosphere that haunts the heroine and the reader. Rebecca Yorke is in top form as usual........................... Harriet Klausner