HIGH BLUFFS

A Maine innkeeper dies in a car crash that was no accident, leaving his wife to become the local man magnet and center of gossip.

In Royer-Derr’s romantic thriller, beautiful, 32-year-old Joanna Dresden and her husband, Jared, sweethearts since high school, have been married a dozen years. For almost as long, they have run The Bluffs, a successful inn. The couple are well known to the locals, who include Simon Clay, the town sheriff; Andy Gardner, who helps with handyman tasks; and Rick Craig, whose dad runs the local market. Of the three, only Andy is married, but he gives Joanna an “uneasy feeling.” Simon has been friends with Joanna since high school, when he acquired a picture of sunflowers she painted, while budding writer Rick is just a few years out of high school. One night, while Joanna’s husband gathers with friends for a few beers, someone cuts the brakes on Jared’s car. Jared dies on impact after his brakeless vehicle hits a tree blocking the road at the base of a hill. Within months of her husband’s funeral, men start hitting on Joanna, and women’s tongues begin wagging. Simon frequently visits; Andy leers; and in spite of their 11-year age difference, Rick scores. Rick’s age gives Joanna pause, as does the speed of their coupling after Jared’s death, but she can’t resist the hunky, tatted college student who encourages her rediscovered love of painting. Yet her concern grows when she discovers Rick’s violent past. This quick, entertaining series opener is well paced, and the intriguing murder mystery is balanced with sexy encounters in the boudoir as well as on a “soft paisley print carpet.” The crisp autumn months and diamond-lit holiday season in New England are smoothly and lovingly captured by the author. But some terms are jarring, as when Joanna calls a chatty, nosy local a “gasbag.” And the quick ascendance of Joanna as an artist and the swift success of Rick as a writer are a bit naïve.

An engaging tale of danger and romance.