HIGH HEELS AND HOMICIDE

Viscount Saint Just continues to play havoc with the life of his creator, Maggie Kelly (Maggie by the Book, 2003, etc.).

Now that he finally has a life—and an income—of his own, modeling for Fragrances by Pierre under the name Alex Blakely, Maggie’s Regency hero could take Sterling Balder, his valet, and slip off into the whirlwind of New York. Instead, he takes an apartment across the hall from the romance writer and tries to run her life, casting himself in the role of her protector, mentor and maybe even . . . He books passage for Maggie, Sterling and himself back to England, where he’s been only in Maggie’s books, to watch the filming of a St. Just telemovie in the creepy country manor Sir Rudolph Medwine has loaned the parsimonious production company. But just as a flood halts production, Maggie finds the body of obnoxious screenwriter Sam Undercuffler dangling outside her window. Was Sam killed by sluttish star Nikki Campion, dim leading man Troy Barlow, ex–porn director Arnaud Peppin, Medwine’s sneaky nephew, Byrd Stockwell or Uncle Willard, the manor’s ghost-in-residence? Maggie won’t rest until she knows, and St. Just can’t rest while Maggie’s sleuthing.

Romance all but obliterates mystery here, with Michaels’s lens trained so tightly on the leads that she misses every chance for fun with her bit players.