All Night Long by Jayne Ann Krentz

From the Publisher

Shy, studious Irene Stenson and wild, privileged Pamela Webb had been the best of friends for one short high school summer. Their friendship ended the night Pamela dropped Irene off at home - and Irene walked in to discover her parents' bodies on the kitchen floor. It was ruled a murder-suicide, and Irene fled Dunsley, determined to wipe out every memory attached to her northern California hometown. But now she has been summoned back.

Pamela's e-mail had been short and cryptic. More alarming, it included the code word they had used as teenagers, suggesting an urgency and secrecy that puzzled Irene. What could be important enough to make her former friend get in touch after all these years? She won't find out - at least not from Pamela, who lies dead in the luxurious home of her father, a U.S. senator, pill and liquor bottles beside her. The shock has barely subsided before the rumors begin to swirl.

Irene had planned to get out of this place as quickly as possible. But her reporter's instinct - and her own hunger to know the truth - compel her to extend her stay at the local lodge. Even more compelling is the man who runs the place - a hazel-eyed ex-Marine whO's as used to giving orders as Irene is to ignoring them. Luke Danner can see the terrified young girl hidden beneath Irene Stenson's black-clad, confident exterior - and he is intent on protecting her. But he is also driven by passions of his own, and together they will risk far more than local gossip to sort out what happened to Pamela Webb, and what really happened on that long-ago summer night.

Publishers Weekly

Krentz's latest fast-paced, well-plotted romantic thriller takes place in the tiny Napa Valley village of Dunster-perhaps named after the Amanda Quick heroine Emma Dunster. A mysterious e-mail from a childhood friend, Pamela Webb, draws big-city reporter Irene Stenson home, but when Irene arrives, Pamela is dead, apparently of a drug overdose. Handsome but damaged ex-Marine Luke Danner, who owns the lodge where Irene is staying, helps her look into the case. The plot thickens when Pamela's house gets torched shortly after she dies, and soon Irene and Luke follow a trail that leads to Pamela's father, a powerful senator who may have played a role in the death of Irene's parents when she was a young girl. When Senator Webb's PR flack is found murdered after getting caught up in a blackmail scheme and Luke and Irene start their predictable but torrid romance, Krentz sets up a series of compelling confrontations, as Irene comes up with information that could jeopardize Webb's impending White House run. The dialogue, which dominates the book, is strong throughout; the plot is tight. Flaws like secondary-character overload and one-dimensional takes on politics aside, this is an impressive page-turner from a master of the genre. (Jan.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

In this romantic suspense tale, reporter Irene Stenson, after a 17-year absence, has been summoned back to her hometown by her childhood best friend, Pamela Webb. Pamela has a secret to share, but by the time Irene arrives at Pamela's house, Pamela is dead, the result of an apparent suicide. Irene doesn't believe her friend would kill herself, so she stays on to investigate. Luke Danner, the proprietor of the inn where Irene is staying, takes an immediate interest in her and starts following her around to protect her. Together, they solve the mystery of Pamela's death, as well as the death of Irene's parents, and also fall in love. The plot may be formulaic at times, but the novel, read by both Kathy Garver and David Colacci, is involving and moves along rapidly. At first the dual reading seems a bit disruptive, but it adds a different perspective to the story and is ultimately successful. The narrators complement each other very well; recommended for public libraries.-Mary Knapp, Madison P.L., WI Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

The mistress of sheet-wringing suspense (Falling Awake, 2004, etc.) scores with a sexy thriller set in Dunsley, a small northern California lake town still seething from a family murder 17 years before. Irene Stenson was only 15 on the summer night she returned from an evening drive with best friend Pamela Webb to find the gunshot corpses of her parents on the floor of their lake house. The verdict at the time was that Dunsley police chief Hugh Stenson shot his wife and then himself, possibly in a jealous rage. The day after their funeral, an elderly aunt took the shell-shocked Irene away. Seventeen years later, Irene is a toughened reporter at an obscure newspaper elsewhere in California. She's drawn back to Dunsley by an email from Pamela, whom she hasn't seen since, asking to meet her to discuss "the past." Trailed by Luke Danner, the curiously proprietary owner of the secluded lodge where she's staying, Irene gets to her former friend too late; Pamela seems to have died of a drug overdose. Yet Irene is suspicious, nagged by the fact that Pamela had tried to contact her. She distrusts many of Dunsley's inhabitants, from police chief Sam McPherson to the members of Pamela's rich family, led by slick senator (and presidential aspirant) Ryland Webb. Clues open up as Irene runs into catty former acquaintances in town. She's shadowed constantly by Luke, a likable ex-Marine who has suffered his own share of post-traumatic stress. Typically, Krentz provides her heroine with just enough independence to be daring, yet not so much as to seem hard or impervious to the attractions of her manly suitor. Characters move a bit too easily through these tidy pages, and it's regrettable that Krentzswitches POV to reveal the villains' obvious intentions when readers are perfectly capable of figuring them out. Fans won't care: It's good, creepy fun from a pro who can practically write in the dark.

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ALL NIGHT LONG

G. P. Putnam's Sons

Chapter One

"Something wrong?" she asked politely.

"Where are you headed?"

She reached up and removed the glasses with a slow, thoughtful air.

"You know, I've stayed in a wide variety of lodging establishments in my life, but this is the first time I've had to account for my comings and goings to the proprietor."

"We do things a little differently here at the Sunrise on the Lake Lodge."

"I've noticed." She tapped the frames of the glasses against the steering wheel. "Would that be the military way, by any chance?"

"That would be the Marine way, Miss Stenson," Jason offered helpfully. "My brother just got out of the service a few months ago. You'll have to make allowances. He's still adjusting to civilian life."

She nodded once, very crisply, as though the information confirmed some private conclusion she had already reached.

"That explains a lot." She smiled at Jason and then gave Luke a considering look. "It crossed my mind that I owe you something for the considerable amount of inconvenience I caused you last night and this morning."

"That right?" Luke asked.

"I was thinking that maybe I could repay you with an offer of a home-cooked meal this evening."

That was the last thing he had been expecting.

"Boy howdy," Jason said enthusiastically. "Do you cook, Miss Stenson?"

"I'll have you know that you are looking at the reporter who is single-handedly responsible for selecting every recipe that runs in the Recipe Exchange column of the Glaston Cove Beacon."

Jason grinned. "Should I be impressed?"

"You would be more than impressed, you would be stunned speechless if you saw some of the recipes I've rejected. Trust me, you're better off going through life never knowing what some people can do with lime-flavored gelatin and red kidney beans."

"I'll take your word for it," Jason said.

"By the way, you're invited to dinner, too, of course, assuming you're staying overnight?"

"I am now," Jason assured her.

'"Excellent. See you both at five-thirty. We'll have drinks before dinner." She turned back to Luke, politely challenging. "If that's okay with you, of course?"

"One of the things they taught us in the Corps was to take advantage of strategic opportunities when they are presented," he said. "We'll be on your doorstep at seventeen-thirty, ma'am."

"I assume that means five-thirty in real time," she said. "Now, if that's settled, I've got a few errands to run."

Luke did not take his hand off the car. "You haven't answered my question. Where are you headed?"

A glint of amusement danced in her amber eyes. "You know, that attitude might work very well in the military. But you may want to rethink it when you're dealing with a paying guest."

"Only two ways to do things, Miss Stenson, the Marine way or the other way."

"For the record, I choose option number two, the other way," she said. "However, in deference to the fact that you will be my guest at dinner tonight, I will be gracious and answer your question. I'm going shopping at the Dunsley Market."

"Shopping?"

"You know, for food and stuff to serve you and your brother?"

"Right. Shopping."

She smiled a little too sweetly. "Care to see my list?"

"Does it include lime gelatin and red kidney beans?"

"Nope."

"Guess I don't have to worry, in that case," he said.

"There's always room to worry, Mr. Danner."

She floored the accelerator. He jerked his fingers off the roof a split second before the compact shot away down the lane. There was a short silence.

"Boy, howdy," Jason said. "You know, you could lose a hand that way."

(Continues...)

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