There are few authors who can weave nail-biting thrills,
edge-of-your-seat drama, and romantic suspense as masterfully as
Julie Garwood. Now she ratchets up the tension with "Murder List,"
in which evil is on the hunt- and proves to be methodically
organized and chillingly successful. When Chicago detective Alec
Buchanan is offered a prime position with the FBI, it is the
perfect opportunity to leave the Windy City and follow in his
brothers'' footsteps to the top echelons of law enforcement. But
first he must complete one last assignment and one that he is not
too happy about: acting as a glorified bodyguard to hotel heiress
Regan Hamilton Madison. The gorgeous exec has become entangled in
some potentially deadly business. Someone has e-mailed her a
graphic crime-scene photo-and the victim is no stranger. Regan
suspects that the trouble started when she agreed to help a
journalist friend expose a shady self-help guru who preys on
lonely, vulnerable women. In fact, the smooth-as-an-oil-slick Dr.
Lawrence Shields may be responsible for the death of one of his
devotees, which was ruled a suicide. Hoping to find some damning
evidence, Regan attends a Shields seminar. At the gathering, the
doctor persuades his guests to partake in an innocent little
"cleansing" exercise. He asks them to make a list of the people who
have hurt or deceived them over the years, posing the question:
"Would your world be a better place if these people ceased to
exist?" Treating the exercise as a game, Regan plays along. After
ten minutes, Shields instructs the participants to bring their
sheets of paper to the fireplace and throw them into the flames.
But Regan misses this part of the program when she exits the room
to take a call-and barely escapes a menacing individual in the
parking lot. The experience is all but forgotten-until the first
person on Regan''s list turns up dead. Shock turns to horror when
other bodies from the list start to surface, as a harrowing tango
of desire and death is set into motion. Now brutal murders seem to
stalk her every move-and a growing attraction to Alec may
compromise her safety, while stirring up tender emotions she
thought she could no longer feel. Yet as the danger intensifies and
a serial killer circles ever closer, Regan must discover who has
turned her private revenge fantasies into grisly reality. "From the
Hardcover edition."