13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fatal attraction, April 6, 2003
This review is from: Deadly Caress (Mass Market Paperback)
"You can't choose who you are going to fall in love with," says Francesca Cahill, a staunch reformist and sleuth caught in a love triangle between the commissioner Rick Bragg and his nemesis of a half-brother Calder Hart. In Deadly Caress, the 5th installment of Joyce's mystery-romance series, her characters' lives are tangled once more in one dramatic denouement after another.
Joyce continues the mystery behind the vandalism of Sarah Channing's portraits, whereby the latter is the fiancee of Francesca's brother Evan. A fellow artist Ms. Neville vanishes abruptly with her neighbor-sans-Evan's mistress Ms. Conway strangled to death. Eyewitness Ms. Holmes is also silenced and evidence points to Evan. Francesca sets out to investigate with Rick Bragg and discovers new suspects like Ms. Neville's lover and brother sprouting.
True fans voraciously devouring Joyce's series would know the fascination lies in her knack to galvanize with twists and secrets. This time is no different with exciting developments like the return of Bragg's wife Leigh Anne and Hart's relentless pursue along with Francesca's sister Connie handling her marital crisis.
However Deadly Caress breaks free of the archetypal romance mold with its ensemble of flawed and honest characters who are subjected to temptations and desires. Rick Bragg, the central protagonist is a hypocrite with confused feelings for his wife and Francesca; Calder Hart who was portrayed as villainous in the series is refreshingly honest and honorable. The romance is complicated with hidden passion and recognisably realistic to shed the perfunctory soap-opera cloak. Joyce has outdone herself this time round with finely-paced suspense and dimensioned characters to engage us to the Deadly series. It's a fatal attraction.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This series keeps getting hotter!, June 5, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Deadly Caress (Mass Market Paperback)
The "Deadly" series as a whole has been extremely enjoyable but I find with each new installment, it keeps getting better and better. If you're like me, the triangle between Fran/Rick/Calder has become the most important aspect of the series. There are some very entertaining secondary characters and the mysteries in each book are attention grabbers by themselves, however, the part I am most interested in seeing resolved is whether Fran will end up with Calder! That's what keeps me biting my nails until the next book! Deadly Caress reveals a little more than the other "Deadly" books but it leaves enough out to drive you insane with anticipation! If you're new to this series, Do Not Begin with this book! You must start with the first installment in order to truly appreciate where I'm coming from! However, starting at the beginning and working your way up to Deadly Caress, I assure you, is worth it!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Artists Strangled & An Engagement Announced - Best Cahill Novel Yet!, September 28, 2005
This review is from: Deadly Caress (Mass Market Paperback)
"Deadly Caress" is author Brenda Joyce's fifth installment, and one of her most suspenseful so far, in her historical mystery/romance series featuring New York City debutante Francesca Cahill. The novel begins with Ms. Cahill, amateur sleuth, society bluestocking, and heiress to a considerable fortune receiving multi-millionaire play boy Calder Hart's shocking declaration of marital intent. Fran is the only woman he will marry, no ifs, ands or buts accepted. By the way, Calder had sworn himself, personally, against marriage at all costs until met his match in Miss Cahill, who became his first real friend ever. She also happens to be extremely intelligent, quirky, as unconventional as Calder, quite beautiful and NYC's first female private investigator in the year 1902! Francesca is determined to set Hart straight about her own personal creed - if she cannot wed his half brother, New York City Police Commissioner Rick Bragg, whom she really loves, and whose estranged spouse has just returned from a four year holiday in Paris to claim her wifely rights, than Francesca will remain a spinster - forever. However, before she can go debate with Calder, whom she cares for and lusts after, about the pitfalls of a mutual future, she receives a telephone call from Bragg. He informs her that famous actress and chanteuse Grace Conway, her brother Evan's longtime mistress, has been murdered in her neighbor's downtown art studio.
Melinda Neville, a renowned painter, is Conways close friend, and apparently has gone missing while Ms. Conway was strangled to death in the vandalized studio. Neville might have seen the murder and fled the scene unable to protect her neighbor. In Brenda Joyce's former romance mystery, "Deadly Desire," Sarah Channing, another brilliant artist and Francesca's soon-to-be sister-in-law, brother Evan's fiancee, was brutalized and threatened by an unidentifiable masked white male, while her own art studio was wrecked. One portrait, in particular, was slashed and smeared with blood red paint. The perpetrator and MO seem to be the same. And Evan Cahill, presently suffering from a near lethal beating because he has not paid his considerable gambling debts, is the only connection between the three women. As Evan quickly becomes the police's number one suspect, Francesca and Rick take up the case to prove him innocent. Clearly, a madman is stalking female artists and vandalizing their studios with murder on his mind. Evan in no way fits this description. Meanwhile, while Bragg tries to avoid entanglements with his seductive wife, Francesca is less inclined to fend off Hart's advances. Then the City Strangler strikes again, killing another woman, a potential witness, and stepping-up the tension another notch.
Sound like a soap opera? It is, in all but title! Although I have been hooked on the series' secondary characters and their ongoing stories, I have been very skeptical about the serious flaws in the narrative from book one. With "Deadly Desire," I think Ms. Joyce hit her stride and continues to improve with "Deadly Caress." While far from perfect in terms of believability, this series, in classic soap style, is loads of fun but frequently stretches readers' credulity. These books actually seems more like installments in a serial novel than stand alone romance/mystery. In fact, most of the characters are from the previous books and the mystery is part of the continuing storyline, involving Francesca, her family, friends and those who touch upon their lives. This approach suits very well and certainly has me returning for more.
Say what you will, I am hooked! If you are interested, I would suggest reading the previous Francesca Cahill novels before "Deadly Caress," as this is a continuing saga and very addictive. Come and meet the folks and become involved in their lives, loves, traumas, mysteries, and the delightful historical setting of 1902-1903 New York City, with its society balls and glitter, the tenements and roughs, gambling halls and beautiful, exotic call girls. Seth Low, the mayor, was recently elected on a reform platform to fight the Tammany Hall machine, and the police commissioner he appointed took some of the actions the fictional Rick Bragg has taken and faced many of the same difficult issues Bragg faces in attempting to reform the terribly corrupt police department. If Ms Joyce takes the series past 1903, Rick will be out of a job as the next administration is a "Tammany beast." Perhaps, Bragg will use the opportunity to run for Senator. ENJOY!!
JANA
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