Rocketgirl's Full Review: Jayne Ann Krentz - Sharp Edges
I had never picked up a book by Jayne Ann Krentz before this one. I knew they were romances to one degree or another and so was never interested. I have no patience for romance novels as they tend to be out of touch with real life. Not only that, the heroines tend to create their own problems by refusing to communicate with their lovers. So it was with some reluctance that I picked up this book, but did so only on the recommendation of a friend.
This story begins with Eugenia, who is an art director at a prestigious Seattle art museum. Her specialty is glass. The rich and eccentric Adam Davenport has died leaving his collection to the museum. His collection is stored in a monstrously ugly glass mansion on an island in Puget Sound. It’s a small town and everyone thought he was a little nutty. Eugenia is going to the museum to catalog the collection and get it ready for transportation to the museum.
Cyrus Colfax is a security specialist. He is hired by the museum to be a bodyguard for Eugenia while she is at the Davenport home. The collection is huge and valuable and housed in a remote location. The museum thinks that Eugenia might be in danger from vandals or ruthless black market art dealers who might try to break into the house.
Both agree to their respective jobs because they have ulterior motivates. Eugenia’s friend Nellie Grant mysteriously died near the island. Eugenia figures it can’t possibly be an accident because her friend was very experienced in navigating boats and would not have taken any risks in inclement weather. Yet she supposedly died in a floundering boat in a storm. She wants to find out what happened to her friend Nellie, because she feels responsible for hooking her up with Adam Davenport.
Cyrus is seeking revenge on his old business partner who had Cyrus’ wife killed. But the man has disappeared and is living under various assumed names. There is a very valuable piece of glass called the Hades Cup. Davenport supposedly had it. If Cyrus can find it, he figures he can lure his old partner out of hiding. This is because Cyrus had been hired by him in the first place to find the cup, so he knows it is important to his old partner.
During the course of looking for clues, both realize their separate quests are going to cross paths. And when the houseman turns up dead they start to wonder if Davenport’s death was really an accident as well. But was it a planned murder or a crime of passion. Who could he have made mad? Any one of dozens of artists who he had used and tossed aside over the years. Is the person who killed the houseman also responsible for the death of Nellie and of Davenport? Eugenia and Cyrus will track down the clues to a somewhat surprising ending.
This particular book lays more in the romantic suspense arena. This is generally more acceptable to me, as the romance usually falls out of a situation that two people are thrown into. The love seems more genuine somehow, as two people in conflict learn how to trust and rely on each other first. It’s a better foundation than physical need. So I enjoyed the book more from that aspect, than had this been just a romance novel.
I also liked the fact that the mystery part of the novel was not your typical police novel. It centered around temperamental artists instead of gang members, thieves, and crooked corporate slugs. The motivation was something other than money. There no gruesome shootouts or bloody body parts. There were smashed glass and forged paintings. So from this perspective, I enjoyed the originality of the plot.
I liked the setting of an island community. It added an aspect to the plot to be considered. Transportation was by ferry so it wasn’t like a potential criminal could just come and go as he felt like it, he was subject to a ferry schedule. Much of the transportation around the island was by small boat. Plus there was the fact that it was an art community and many of the people knew each other. This means that many people had a piece of information that led to solving the puzzle.
The reading was fairly fast-paced with lots of investigation going on. The only time the story dragged was when Eugenia and Cyrus are ruminating how they feel about each other. I realize this is a romance so those passages are inevitable, but really they just stop the action. I find that I don’t care about it and just skim those sections until I get back to the main plot. Some of the dialogue that goes along with these sections is very trite and I just roll my eyes. Fortunately the passages are short and the action keeps moving. The author does do a nice job of wrapping up all the loose ends and answering all the questions of the puzzle. The killer was also a great surprise. I like it when I am surprised when the killer is revealed.
I could have done without the romance in the book but it wasn’t too distracting. Overall the plot wasn’t bad and it kept me interested enough to keep reading to find out who was the killer. This was because of curiosity, though, more than cheering for the hero and heroine--there wasn’t enough characterization to make me very sympathetic toward the characters. This was a solid “average” book.
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