February 2, 1998
Like the hand-blown objects she curates for the Leabrook Glass Museum in Seattle, sharp-witted Eugenia Swift is full of edges, an odd match for slow-moving, slow-talking, meat-and-potatoes PI Cyrus Chandler Colfax. From their first clash of wills and styles to their last kiss, however, they are a mismatch forged in heaven, and the bestselling Krentz (author of the pseudonymous Amanda Quick historicals and Jayne Castle futuristic romances) makes the most of it. Posing as a couple, Eugenia and Cyrus travel to Frog Cove Island to unravel a bunch of mysteries. Did glass collector Adam Daventy die accidentally? Is his last lover, Eugenia's friend Nellie Grant, dead at all? Will Cyrus find the legendary Hades cup before it's traced by his nemesis, Damien March? Krentz's bad guys verge on the parodic, so mean that we know they have to lose. But Eugenia and Cyrus are endearing curmudgeons, old-fashioned in their loyalty and guts, and even though we know they have to triumph, we don't want to miss a word.