Sight Unseen

The Antiquities Preservation Institute’s best recovery specialist is a beautiful woman with the talents of a thief who has the gift of psychometry. Her rate of success is formidable. What she cannot get back through conventional means she steals back if necessary. The power to read emotions of others from the objects by a mere touch means that she can also be fairly certain of authenticity even if her opinion could not be held as official confirmation.

She is on an assignment with a sweet and well regarded art dealer who is on the brink of retiring from API. She runs into a familiar face from Miami, one of her few failed recovery attempts. Two Ouray patrolmen had intervened. The young rookie let her talk her way out of the incident, the other man was more suspicious.

David (Dax) Maddox is on the trail of a cop killer who had taken his partner’s life and left him without the ability to see color. His lead takes him to an art auction where he catches sight of a black haired sexy female thief whom he has seen before.

When Raven’s partner is kidnapped and the ransom demanded is a priceless painting, she and Dax are thrown together, reluctant though they may be. The abductor names them both in the note and as events unfurl it becomes clear that they have a common enemy though they don’t know who or how.

This is an impressive book from all angles. The paranormal aspect could easily have been overplayed but the restrained hand here allowed for other aspects to be given emphasis. The knowledge, skills, and technology used for the heists as well as the insider knowledge of police procedure gave the entire story authority. Meticulous research on a variety of subjects must have gone into this work and we are all the more fortunate for it.

The chemistry between Raven and Dax is apparent from the beginning. It heats up as a natural progression of their relationship and their forced affiliation. Hero and heroine’s back history is sprinkled throughout the book like nuggets of information to discover. When we have the full picture, the pulse pounding culmination of the book is taking place.

The personal demons of our main characters are portrayed clearly. Both are emotionally damaged. Raven has issues of falling in love after watching her mother’s decline when her father abandoned the family. Dax carries a terrible burden of guilt for the death of his friend and partner as well as shame for what he sees as falling short of his family’s expectations. It is moving to see them heal and overcome their obstacles to romance.

Ms Graves gives us an extremely well written and deftly plotted romantic suspense where all of the clues add up to a wonderful revelation in the end.

She is bound to garner many fans with this engrossing tale. Go on and buy this, SIGHT UNSEEN.

August 2007