At Risk

Bailey Elliott comes to Tawes Island looking for her birth mother's story and finds a community that guards its secrets hard and a graveyard that holds them harder. Judith E. French's 2005 RITA Award finalist for Best Romantic Suspense builds genuine atmosphere on a fictional Chesapeake Bay island, pairing a developing attraction between Bailey and the protective Daniel Catlin with a decades-old diary that refuses to stay buried. Trade critics called it 'taut, edgy, and outstanding.' Readers should know that 'sizzling attraction' is a real descriptor here — this is romantic suspense with sensual content consistent with the genre, not a clean romance. For adults who enjoy their mysteries with heat and a strong sense of place, this delivers.