Nora Roberts is an addictive author, and I’ve just wasted, very well mind you, most of the day finishing not one, but two of her books. Not being the average bodice ripper romance writer I find myself absolutely fascinated with her stories. Especially because she’s very well researched and doesn’t hesitate to spice her novels up with mystery and magic. Eventually I’ll get my hands on some of the JD Robb novels and be happy as a pig in mud.

Praise of Nora’s skills aside, lets move on to today’s review. This morning we’re looking at Nightshade, the third of the Night Tales saga and here’s a peek at the back cover:

They sure were making cops in interesting packages these days. Colt Nightshade couldn’t believe his luck partnering on a case with Lieutenant Althea Grayson. But the breathtaking detective was strictly by-the-book and had no use for Colt’s easygoing renegade style. Thawing the heart of this enticing ice goddess just might be the toughest challenge Colt had ever faced.

Diving back into the Denver nightlife and right back into the life of Althea Grayson, Boyd Fletcher’s old partner from Night Shift, we find her caught up in the search of a runaway kid that Private Investigator Colt Nightshade was asked to find. Having had a small peek at Althea in the first novella of the series, it’s a pleasure to find a place inside her head and seeing what her life is like.

Roberts has spanned the delicate balance of the multiple view point story so perfectly that the transition from Althea to Colt to the criminals is as smooth as a conversation between friends. Her skill with research displays itself within the tangled web of gung-ho and by-the-book police work as well as within the ring of snuff films that the story revolves around. It’s absolutely fascinating; more so because along with the story you get the entanglement and interweaving of past characters from the other novellas shifting in and out as well.

Enough of my rambling, go read the book. At just shy of 250 pages it’s a quick read for a rainy day.

And I promise, as soon as the month is over we’ll get into something grittier, like Scott Sigler’s The Rookie or my disgust of medichlorians.

Rating: