White Lies (Arcane Society Series #2) by Jayne Ann Krentz

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review
The mysterious Arcane Society, first introduced in Amanda Quick's Victorian thriller Second Sight, takes center stage again in this contemporary romantic paranormal thriller by Jayne Ann Krentz. Her main character, Society member Clare Lancaster, is a Level 10 parasensitive. This means she's a virtual human lie detector, a talent that makes her a very bad blind date -- but she's also the only one to believe that the husband of her half sister, Elizabeth, was really abusive. Having saved Elizabeth, Clare begins to get to know her very wealthy biological father, Archer Lancaster, who summons her to the family estate in Arizona. Tensions begin to swirling when Elizabeth's husband is murdered, and both Elizabeth and Clare become suspects. When Clare meets her father's associate, the very alpha, very mysterious Jake Salter, she knows right away he is not who he pretends to be. Jake, on the track of a mysterious Arcane Society cabal, finds it most inconvenient to be attracted to the very woman who can blow his cover. Their instant chemistry and their psychic talents take them into dangerous territory, both in and out of the bedroom. You may never feel relaxed at a spa again. Ginger Curwen

From the Publisher

Relationships are challenging enough for most single over-thirty women. For level ten parasensitive Clare Lancaster, they’re a minefield. The elite few who know her secret call her a human lie detector, and any falsehood, no matter how subtle or well hidden, sets her blood racing. Over the years, Clare has come to accept that someone with her extraordinary talents is unlikely to find a suitable mate. And she’s even resigned herself to the fact that everyone, to one degree or another, hides behind a façade.

Including her recently deceased brother-in-law. When Clare finds the body of Brad McAllister, the golden child of Stone Canyon, Arizona, the posh residents turn a suspicious eye in her direction. As Archer Glazebrook’s daughter, Clare is shielded from the law, but not the gossip. It seems that meeting the half sister and family whom she did not know until seven months ago was a mistake. Now her father summons her from California to play a role in his business empire, and Clare doesn’t intend on making the same mistake twice. But after meeting Jake Salter, Archer’s “business consultant,” she is convinced that things aren’t what they seem. Salter’s careful conversation walks a delicate line between truth and deception, revealing and resisting. Something sparks and sizzles between them - something more than the usual electricity between a man and a woman.

Caught in a dizzying storm of secrets, lies, and half-truths, Jake and Clare will plunge into an investigation that demands every bit of their special gifts. Together, they must overcome their mutual distrust in order to unravel a web of conspiracy and murder.

Publishers Weekly

This spirited paranormal romance is the latest in Krentz's Arcane Society series (which includes some novels, like the recent Second Sight, written as Amanda Quick). Clare Lancaster, like her parents and grandparents, is a member of the clandestine Arcane Society, an association of parasensitives who are dedicated to the study of the paranormal. Clare's extraordinary abilities as a human lie detector make even other paranormals uneasy, with the exception of her half-sister Elizabeth. Elizabeth's troubled marriage brings Clare to Arizona and into the family circle. There, Clare finally meets Archer Glazebrook, her biological father, but she also meets Jake Salter, another highly talented parasensitive who turns out to be on assignment from Jones & Jones (the investigative arm of the Arcane Society) to track down a possible plot to take over the society. The cabal he's after has some connection to the still-unsolved murder of Clare's objectionable brother-in-law months before. More murders follow, and Jake and Clare have to work together to save themselves and the society. Krentz delivers another evocative romance, complete with engaging dialogue and explicit sex scenes, but the real meat of the plot concerns the sleuthing: that a charismatic alpha male finally meets his mate is icing on another densely plotted Krentz confection. (Jan.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Danna Bell-Russel - Library Journal

Claire Lancaster has had an interesting year, having discovered that she is the daughter of Archer Glazebrook, owner of a huge corporate empire in Arizona. She meets her half-sister Elizabeth and determines that Elizabeth's husband, Brad, is trying to kill his wife. Yet it is Brad who ends up dead, with Claire discovering the body and being accused of his murder. Though she is never charged and returns to her home in California, she loses her fiancé and her job when word gets out. Now Archer has called Claire back to Arizona to ask her to chair his new charitable foundation. Little does Claire know that she is stepping into a new adventure that leads to additional murders, a conspiracy, and the love of her life, Jake Salter. This book is part of Krentz's Arcane Society series, where the characters have paranomal powers. Claire is a natural lie detector and Jake a hunter, with skills they both use to solve the various murders and discover the plans of the Cabal, an organization that wants to destroy the society. Kathy Garver and David Colacci do a masterly job of reading, alternating chapters while acting out the various parts. Some may find it disconcerting; others will enjoy the idea. For public library romance collections and libraries where Krentz has a following.

Library Journal

(See Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/06) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A wealthy family of Arizona paranormals wrestles with the murder of one of its favorite sons, in Krentz's latest standardized romance-suspense hybrid (All Night Long, 2006, etc.). The Glazebrooks are a family of psychics-each ranking higher or lower on the Jones Scale of the Arcane Society, an organization devoted to psychic and paranormal research. Six months ago, Clare Lancaster, the highest ranker on the Jones Scale, was sought out by her stepsister Elizabeth for help with her abusive marriage. Clare and Elizabeth, who share the same father, met for the first time-Clare's mother had an affair with Arizona businessman Archer Lancaster more than 30 years ago, and Clare never knew him growing up. After the two met, Elizabeth's princely husband, Archer's colleague Bradley McAllister, was murdered, and Clare was roundly blamed because she meddled in his and Elizabeth's marriage. Now it's July, and Clare has been summoned by the patriarch to the Stone Canyon, Ariz., family estate to discuss her taking over a new charitable foundation Archer wants to establish. Soon, Clare meets Jake Salter, the seemingly plain but sharp-eyed private investigator for the Jones & Jones firm hired independently by Archer and the Arcane Society. In fact, the elusive Jones & Jones firm's main task is to guard the founder's psychic formula, which apparently transforms its users into "ruthless, psychically enhanced, highly unstable sociopaths." While Clare, the human lie-detector, swoons over Jake, who has misrepresented his psychic abilities in order to work undercover, and the two delve deeper into Brad's shadowy dealings, Clare is attacked by Brad's deranged-by-grief, alcoholic mother, Valerie Shipley. Thepsychic edge intrigues, but the effect is diffused in this small society of sameness.

Product Details

• Table of Contents
• Interviews & Essays

Table of Contents

Interviews & Essays