Review: Fall Dead by Ann Bruce

Title: Fall Dead
Author: Ann Bruce
Genre: Romantic Suspence
Grade: C
Reason for Reading: I think Wendy, the Super Librarian reviewed it and it looked interesting.

Synopsis: When his latest case falls on him and his partner–quite literally–Detective Nick
Markov knows the demolition of his car by a not-yet-cold body is the least of his
worries. The dead body is that of a prominent businessman, Andrew Langan, and suicide
is swiftly ruled out after Nick pursues the killers down twenty-seven flights–and
loses them.
To his superiors’ frustrations, Nick doesn’t buy into the popular belief that Langan’s
soon-to-be ex-wife, Augusta, is behind the murder, even though she has the motive,
the opportunity, no alibi, and a shady past. The only reasons Nick has for going
against logical dictates are the feeling in his gut and the constriction in his chest.
Augusta soon finds herself thrust back into an unwanted spotlight and her quiet life
shattered. Then things go downhill. In between dodging the media, Augusta fights
off a mugger, deals with a kidnap attempt, and confronts goons better dressed than
she. With Nick Markov, who dredges up a past she’d rather forget and feelings she’d
rather not admit to having, Augusta must race to unravel her deceased husband’s perilous
legacy of deadly secrets before she finds herself skydiving without a parachute.

My Thoughts: I have to start this review by pointing out that I really like the way Ann Bruce’s website is organized. It’s easy to find stuff, and there wasn’t a whole lot of unnecessary crap to wade through. And I also like her online presence on the romance blogs I’ve read, although if she ever reads this, I’m not sure how much credence she’ll give to the fact that I said that.

Anyway, what I liked atbout this book? I actually thought the suspence plot was interesting, at least until it sort of came apart for me at the end. I didn’t guess who was responsible for Andrew Langan’s murder, and though I wasn’t crazy about the resolution, it certainly made sense.

The characters were fairly pleasant, although both Nick and Augusta managed to get on my nerves at various points in the story by acting in exactly the ways characters in romantic suspence novels always act. Nick decides Augusta can’t be a killer because of his little Nicky. Augusta does the requisite walking home alone late at night so she can be attacked thing. There is also the requisite argument about whether or not Augusta will stay in her home once it’s obvious that that’s not the place she should be. I don’t know about anybody else, but if someone broke into my house shortly after I’d been mugged, I would totally not want to stay there.

This was a quick, pleasant read, with characters who are mostly likeable. It was neither exceptionally good nor terribly bad. I’m sure there are better romantic suspence books out there. Unfortunately, the only romantic suspence book I’ve read that even remotely worked for me recently was the first Eve Dallas book, so I’m not exactly sure what those better books would be. C for this one, although I think there’s enough promise here that I’d read something else by this author.