White Lies

Author: Jayne Ann Krentz
Published: January 2007 (Putnam)
Category: Paranormal Romance
Rating: 7/10

Apparently, White Lies uses the Arcane Society Krentz created under her penname Amanda Quick in Second Sight. I think I started reading that book, but stopped reading it for some reason I don't recall.

Clare Lancaster is a level 10 parasensitive human lie detector. Apparently, this is a super big deal and she could be a level 17 for all we know because level 10 parasensitives just can't be measured. Having been fired from her last job and being unable to find a new one, due to being suspected of a murder she didn't commit, she goes to Stone Canyon, AZ, home of her father (the man who supplied the sperm in a one-night fling) and his family, at his request. Several months before, her half-sister contacted her for desperate help because she believed her husband Brad was evil, which he was, but then Clare walked in on his murder scene soon after that and was suspected (but cleared due to her father's influence) of doing the deed.

Upon her return to Stone Canyon, Brad's mother goes ballistic, and it doesn't help that she's on meds and has become an alcoholic. She's bent on the idea that Clare killed Brad because they were having an affair and Brad wouldn't leave her sister. She even tries killing Clare in revenge, and winds up doing a dead man's float in her pool, and unfortunately discovered by Clare, who wanted to talk things out with the crazy lady.

And then there's the man. He's Jake Salter, an employee of Jones & Jones, a paranormal investigation firm that does a lot of work for the Arcane Society. He's using Clare's affluent father to disguise his true purpose in Stone Canyon. Apparently, someone's starting a rival organization to the Arcane Society, called the Cabal. Jake is also a level 10 parasensitive, a hunter. I was a little fuzzy on what a hunter actually does, but I figured it has to do with being very predator-like... and manly... and very, very sexy. I think I have a crush on him.

But this book was not really about the romance, which comes together rather easily and with a cute gimmick at the end of the book (there's an Arcane Society dating service that matches parasensitives up with suitable mates). It was more about the mystery and Clare's pseudo-family and how they come together. I could've done with a little more Jake :)