Suite 606

Not to repeat the other reviewers, but I too read these anthologies to try out new authors. Don't bother with this one. Other than the JD Robb story (which I thought was a bit formulaic and hastily written), the others are poorly written and very contrived. I took the book out of my local library, and am very glad I spent no money on it.

What can anyone say about these two characters, other than I want more and more. I am a fan of both and prefer more involvement with Roake on her cases. Lord knows the murder mysteries keep me captivated, but it's more fun with Roake. And I love Peabody, McNab, her best friend and her hubby...oh gosh, I could go on and on.......

Four very different paranormal romances! I enjoyed all the stories in this book but the first and last were my favorites.

The first is J.D. Robb's "Ritual in Death" where Eve is with Roarke at a wealthy friend's party in a penthouse at Roarke's Palace hotel when in walks a naked man holding a knife and covered in blood. Eve and Roarke retrace his steps to another penthouse where they find a pentagram and a young woman brutally murdered. As Eve uses her superior detective skills, Roarke also uses any means at this disposal since his security personnel were involved. How both their approaches work at different angles to still come up with the same suspects and final resolution is a terrific story.

The second story takes place around 1814 in England. Summer Cassidy married to Reggie and mother of a darling daughter is shocked when late at night an old friend, Lord Stephen Bradley comes to the door to tell her that her husband was set upon by thieves and his neck is broken. Summer cannot believe he is dead and insists they bring his body to his room and get a physician. When she looks into his eyes though she knows. Summer is frustrated as her husband is a gambler and has left her many debts. Lord Stephen wants to help her but she cannot trust him as he and her husband had a bet going just before she married Reggie. However, Reggie comes back six months after his death as a ghost and appears to their daughter and to Summer as he needs to make things right. A very fun story however whimsical.

The third story involves a detective Sam Hunter who made a name for himself with his partner solving cold cases. In their last case, his partner stepped in front of him and took a bullet meant for Sam. Sam cannot forgive himself for not reacting more quickly and at the same time is angry at this ex-partner for taking the bullet and saving his life. He heads for an old inn in the countryside of Vermont to take some time to re-evaluate his life. He is caught in a bad ice and snowstorm and his car is wrecked in a ditch. He starts walking and sees a light. It is an old farmhouse where they live in an old-fashioned way and the daughter of the house Mary Catherine is kind where her stepfather is cruel. Very intense plot and several twists to the story.

The final and fourth story involves a mom, Marie Barnett, who is divorced and had had addiction problems and is trying to become re-acquainted with her twelve year old son, Hugh. They are going through a museum and come upon an artifact which when the power in the museum goes down, her son picks up and is whisked away leaving the artifact behind. How Marie is brave enough to follow her son and meets a wizard and all the adventures they have is a very magical tale.

Highly recommended!

I love the supernatural and suspense in books, so that is why I downloaded this to my Kindle. I read it on vacation and did not find it entertaining at all. It did not hold my interest and I could never get into the characters. The worst story was about a gambling, no good husband who comes back as a ghost. Very poorly done. I wouldn't bother reading it when there are so many good books out there.

I bought this because of the J D Robb book, but even though it was a good story, it was disappointing in that it was so very short; about 75 pages? common, let's be realistic here. I knew it had to be short if it was part of what I call a "composit", but this was nothing. The other three? Pfft! I couldn't finish them. They really put me to sleep.

In this case, I knew that Ritual would be the equivalent of a short story, but in general, I really wish there were a way for us, the buyers to know ahead of time when an "In Death" book is a shortie or full length. Buying "blind" from Amazon makes it very difficult to know. There are many instances where two or three of her full length books are published in one volume, so that is not always a way to know with the new "in Death" stories.

Ritual in Death by J.D. Robb ~ While attending a fancy party, Eve and Roarke are thrown into another mystery when a stranger, naked and covered in blood head to toe, holding a knife in his hand, stumbles into the room from down the hall. But Jackson Pike doesn't remember what happened, and the more he tries, the more the pain in his head becomes intolerable. Other witnesses are like Pike: unable to remember and too much pain. But that doesn't stop the team from bringing down the murderers.

Another incredible story in the series, even if it is shorter than usual. I really like how Eve follows her instincts, and no matter the argument between her and Roarke, they still manage to come to the same conclusion. What I liked in this one was how Eve was forced, once again, to think outside the conventional box. Excellent mystery and decisive detective work along with colourful, believable and incredible characters make for one hell of a story.

Love Endures by Mary Blayney ~ A man is robbed and murdered after winning a large some at betting. Grieving, his widow and daughter take off for the country for a few months, only to return to find his ghost is haunting his room, and the one way he can leave, at least by way of Heaven, he needs to right his past wrongs. But can trusts and broken hearts be mended?

Oh, you bet! I loved how this story came about. I truly adored Summer's `I'll be damned - come hell or high water' attitude when she finds the ghost of her husband talking to her daughter. She's known that he's lied, even worse with the dire enough situations he's left her in. Having lied to even his own brother, now he won't trust Summer either. But the worst was finding out that he lied to both, Summer, and his best friend, Lord Stephen Bradley. Summer and Stephen had fallen in love right before her wedding to Reggie, but he wanted the money their marriage could bring him, and lied to them both. To him, it was a bet and nothing more - he liked to win. I was truly glad that, although they butted heads, Summer and Stephen finally found the truth and sent Reggie on his way.

Cold Case by Ruth Ryan Langan ~ When his partner is shot and killed by a bullet meant for him, Sam Hunter quits the force and decides to revisit a small a town in Vermont where he spent a long-ago college semester. But it seems his hotel room was given to someone else and he's forced out into a storm, in search of a bed & breakfast he remembered. A flash of something looking like a woman forces him to slam on his brakes and straight into a ditch. Slightly wounded, he gets out of the car in search of the woman he saw when he stumbles onto a house named Storm Hill. He's invited in by Mary Catherine McGivern and her younger sister, Anna. While her stepfather has allowed him to stay until the storm passes, he becomes more and more agitated - seems that their mother, his wife, had supposedly run off with a hired hand, and he's refused to keep a stranger in his house for long since then. But unexpectedly, Sam and Mary Catherine fall in love, with a sad, and happy, ending?

I have to say it even if it hurts me to: I wasn't impressed with this one. And I have never, ever, said that about a Ruth Langan story in my life! While I really felt Sam and his pain, I felt nothing for Mary Catherine or her sister. None, nada, zip, zilch. I didn't feel them falling in love whatsoever, and the ending infuriated me. Why she would push him out of the way of a blow meant for him, ending her own life, the same as his partner did, had me upset and angry in disbelief. To give a man who endured so much a second blow was enough to make me livid. And while he learns the truth about their mother and what Hoag has done, not once now but twice, he's thrown out into the ice storm by Hoag who intends for him to disappear and die in it. But then Sam comes to, a woman helps him out of the car, onto a snowmobile and into the bed and breakfast, Storm Hill. It seems that Kate is related to the family who has owned the land for centuries. Seems Anna had managed to escape Hoag, and once Hoag died, the land was returned to the McGiverns. But then we're left with speculation as to what Sam is going to do next. Seems that Kate is just as beautiful as Mary Catherine. But I got the willies when it's suggested that he may fall in love with Kate and stay - when shortly before, he had been in love with her great-great-aunt. Only one word came to mind with that: Ewe! Sorry, Ms. Langan, but I just didn't feel it this time, and that almost makes me want to cry! I've never disliked any of your stories, but this one just didn't cut it for me.

Wayward Wizard by Mary Kay McComas ~ On an unsupervised visit with her son, Marie Barnett takes her son Hugh to a baseball exhibit at a museum. Once done there, they vist another exhibit when lightening from a storm raging outside plays havoc with the lights and security system. Hugh touches, fiddles with one of the exhibits and disappears. Having seen what he son had done, Marie does the same, and ends up where he is, several centuries before their time, in the home of Nester Baraka of Viator, a wizard who supposedly can displace time with the help of two stone, Petroleon and Sellithos. But Sellithos had been stolen from him long ago. He wants to get it back, and he's hoping he can jump with them through time and find it, returning them to their rightful place. Meanwhile, Marie and Hugh grow closer, his anger at his mother slowly ebbing. And Marie and Nester seem to be falling in love, dispite how badly they fight it, for he needs to return to his time, while she must stay in hers.

Oh, I loved this story! We hear the explanation from Marie about why her son is angry with her. Now only do we feel that anger towards her as well, but we feel a great deal of empathy for Marie as well. For Marie has gone to hell and back, not once, but twice. An accident that causes her to lose her unborn baby, an addiction to prescription meds, rehab, a relapse, and a longer time in rehab. While her now ex-husband is understanding enough to help her with rehab the second time around, her son is resentful, for Marie was supposed to get better the first time around and come back for him. But this time, she's kicked her habit and has promised herself and her son that she'll never go back to who she was. But it's taking more time than she'd like. It was great to see them jumping to different time periods, the details are spectacular. And I loved watching Nester become aquainted with they way we speak, our phrases and sayings. Watching the banter back and forth between the three is excellent.

What I thought was great: how Nester, Marie and Hugh are tied into all four stories. We get a glimpse of them in the first three, and it's fun watching them pop up into the stories while McComas is telling hers. I got a kick out of that. Ladies, I hope you collaborate again - this was fun!

Love the "in death" series by JD Robb. This one did not disappoint.

All this authors in this book are great but I am a dedicated fan of J.D. Robb. Never disappoints.

All four stories were a disappointment, even the J.D. Robb - it ended up being Eve & Roarke 'light'. The Suite 606 connection was forced as were all the story lines. The writing in Blayney and Langen's stories was sophomoric at best. Don't waste your money or your time.

One of my wife’s favorite authors.