A Strange Twist of Fate

Young widow Julianna Eddington is determined to find out who is responsible for her husband's death.  Greg was a prosecutor and Anna is positive his case files hide the identity of his killer — who ran his Jeep off the road and killed him. Her illicit investigations have barely kept her out of harm's way herself, and when she is arrested as part of a drug bust all of her efforts seem to have been for naught.  Detective Lee Adams is on his way home to an empty apartment when he hears the commotion of Anna's arrest.  He is immediately drawn to the beautiful widow, and she can't help but notice the handsome detective who comes to her aid.

Billed as a romantic mystery novel, "A Strange Twist of Fate" begins promisingly enough, but quickly loses its way and becomes a confusing tangle of improbable situations, implausible actions and unbelievable events.  Anna and Lee are completely two-dimensional and there is no development of either character. The story is told, not shown, and as a result the reader is simply led by the hand through a series of  increasingly hard-to-believe events as the two main characters plow through the "twists of fate" created by the author.  So many twists, in fact, that the initial story becomes lost. The bones of a good romantic suspense are here, with two promising leads.   Take out the twists and beef up the details, and Ms. Erfert could have a winner.

Tammy Grant