Twice Burned (Mira Romantic Suspense) [Mass Market Paperback]

Jan Coffey (Author)

Book Description

Series: Mira Romantic Suspense | Publication Date: July 1, 2002

A small town's simmering secrets are about to ignite in a blaze of suspicion and deadly retribution in Jan Coffey's "Twice Burned."

A woman desperately searches for the truth in an attempt to save her brother....

Twenty years ago, Lea and Ted Hardy came home from school to find their parents dead, victims of a murder-suicide. Lea leaves the small town of Stonybrook and the painful memories behind. But Ted can't seem to escape the past. Now, convicted and facing execution for the murder of his wife and children, Ted has given up hope. Convinced of her brother's innocence, Lea must return to a town that harbors a fierce desire to see Ted die... taking long-buried secrets with him. Lea needs an ally now more than ever. Because the fuse has been lit, and the bright fires of truth are about to blow Stonybrook wide open.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Jan Coffey. Mira, $6.50 (400p) ISBN 1-55166-919-6Coffey (Trust Me Once), which is a pseudonym for James and Nikoo McGoldrick, skillfully balances smalltown scandal and sexual intrigue with lively plotting and vivid characterizations in this engrossing romantic thriller. When 31-year-old social worker L‚a Hardy learns that her brother has been convicted of murdering his estranged wife and two daughters, she returns to her conservative hometown of Stonybrook, Pa., to raise cash for the mounting legal bills and a death row appeal. L‚a plans to fix up and sell the dilapidated childhood home where she was orphaned by the murder/suicide of her parents more than 20 years earlier, but she soon learns that old enmities die hard in her town. With the exception of her gorgeous next-door neighbor, Mick Conklin, who is conveniently a contractor, and his troubled teenage daughter, L‚a is given the cold shoulder by unforgiving townsfolk and police who are convinced her family is cursed. Even after she's attacked in her home and threatened by a crazy Vietnam vet, the town sheriff blames her for disturbing the peace. For a thriller, there's very little action here. Instead, a series of tantalizing flashbacks help build suspense, and a thoroughly enchanting romantic subplot fleshes out the story.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

When her brother is sentenced to die for the murder of his estranged wife and two young daughters, Lea Hardy resolutely returns to Stonybrook, the town she fled years earlier after her parents' murder-suicide, to renovate and sell the family home in order to pay for a new lawyer. But the town has neither forgotten the old scandal nor forgiven the new, and someone in particular doesn't want the truth to come out and is willing to kill to prevent it. Well paced, suspenseful, and sometimes startling, Coffey's latest unexpectedly pairs a mystery filled with graphic violence and explicit sex with a sensitive love story. Add a couple of troubled teens, a dash of insanity, and a victim who was evil incarnate, and you get an intense, compelling story that will keep most readers guessing until the very end. Coffey (Trust Me Once) is one of the pseudonyms for the award-winning writing team of James and Nikoo McGoldrick; they live in Bucks County, PA.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Mira (July 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1551669196
• ISBN-13: 978-1551669199
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,201,783 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jan Coffey
(a.k.a. Nikoo & Jim McGoldrick)
Nikoo and Jim McGoldrick are storytellers with a checkered past.
From the submarine shipyards of Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut, and the clubs of Rodeo Drive, to the forges of Pennsylvania and the electronics manufacturers of Massachusetts, these two have spent their lives gathering material for their novels. Nikoo, a manufacturing engineer, and Jim, who has a Ph.D. in sixteenth-century British literature, wrote their first full-length novel in 1994. Since then, Jim and Nikoo have written twenty-seven novels and a work of nonfiction, and they are presently focusing their imaginations on producing romantic suspense thrillers with a decidedly technological slant.
The "Jan Coffey" pseudonym, one of several they have used, is actually a play on their own names: Jan is an acronym for "Jim and Nikoo," and Coffey is Nikoo's maiden name.
These prolific and popular authors have been the recipients of numerous awards for their work. They now reside in Watertown, Connecticut.

Visit us www.JanCoffey.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A suspense filled read..., May 17, 2003

By 

iheartjackbauer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Twice Burned (Mira Romantic Suspense) (Mass Market Paperback)

After Lea and Ted Hardy went home from school one day and found their parents dead, they became closer than ever. While Lea decided to stay as far away from Stonybrook as possible and the memories the town held for her, Ted married the daughter of the richest man in Stonybrook. With his marriage over, Ted is fighting hard for custody of his two daughters. Everything seems to be going great for him, for almost all the citizens of Stonybrook are standing by his side. Then, one horrific night, Ted goes to pick up his girls and finds the house on fire with his daughters inside. Shellshocked and heartbroken, Ted doesn't care that he is convicted of the murder of his whole family and sentenced to die.

Lea Hardy is returning to Stonybrook after nearly twenty years. She needs to sell the house her father killed her mother in and then killed himself. She also started getting anonymous letters saying that Ted was innocent and all she had to do was come back to Stonybrook. Soon she is pieceing together an even greater puzzle than the murder of Ted's family. When it seems everyone in the town is turning her away, Mick Conklin, her next door neighbor is there for her.

Mick always watched out for Lea when she lived next door. As a teenager, he was astounded by her courage. As an adult, he is awed by her strength and beauty. Lea not only brightens up his life, but his daughter's as well. When he had given up hope that Heather would ever open up to him again, Lea helped her like he wasn't able to. Strange things then start to happen as Lea tries to uncover the real murderer.

This is a great book and I'm looking foward to reading the one that came before it. Jan Coffey also writes under the name May McGoldrick, who rights historical romances. Don't miss it!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fun to read, October 28, 2002

By 

S. Gould "gouldpjaks" (Woodmere, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Twice Burned (Mira Romantic Suspense) (Mass Market Paperback)

Lea Hardy returns to her home town to mount a death row appeal for her brother, Ted, who has been convicted of murdering his wife and two young daughters. She immediately becomes the target of threats and attacks on her life from a community that wants to see Ted put to death. Living in her parents old home and with no friends or allies in town Lea is forced to rely on her new neighbor Mick Conklin. She immediately befriends his teenage daughter, Heather, who is dealing with some severe problems of her own. Trusting Mick is more difficult, but she needs his help to find the truth and he needs her help to understand his troubled daughter. I really enjoyed this book. It's well written romantic suspense that's just perfect for a rainy day or a day at the beach.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Moved a little Slow, January 29, 2008

By 

Lehcarjt (N. CA, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Twice Burned (Mira Romantic Suspense) (Mass Market Paperback)

I have to admit that I didn't finish this book. I got tired of it and jumped to the end to find out 'who did it.' I never,ever,ever cheat like that, and the fact that I did says a lot.

I liked the story. I liked the moments of high tension. The problem was that between the high points was pages and pages of boredom. I ended up skimming the book for the good parts and skipping the rest.