Sizzle and Burn

Author: Jayne Ann Krentz
Published: January 29, 2008 (Putnam)
Category: Paranormal Romance
Series: Arcane Society #3
Rating: 8/10

I really like JAK's flipping back and forth between contemporary and historical romances for the Arcane Society series (historical ones are written under Amanda Quick).

Raine Tallentyre is reluctantly drawn into a J&J investigation involving her murky past when she goes back to her hometown to settle her deceased aunt's affairs. A long time ago, her aunt fell in love with Wilder Jones of J&J, but Raine's father was under suspicion for stealing the founder's formula, the basis of the addictive drug being used by Nightshade (the cabal mentioned in White Lies). On the day of her father's funeral, Jones destroys his lab, cementing the Tallentyre's notorious reputation in the Arcane Society. Raine and her aunt turn their backs on the Society and J&J until the day Zack Jones, another J&J investigator, show up at her hotel room door. On the same day she discovers a girl locked in her dead aunt's basement, the work of a serial killer known as the Bonfire Killer.

Actually, the Bonfire Killer is a secondary mystery, because Zack is investigating the disappearance of Lawrence Quinn, an Arcane Society researcher who disappeared. He worked on the founder's formula, and they're afraid Nightshade got a hold of him. Quinn also paid a visit to Raine's aunt the day she died, leading Zack to believe Aunt Vella knew something about the formula.

Stereotypically, in the course of the investigation, Raine and Zack give in to their attraction for each other. However, Raine doesn't fully trust Zack because he's another Jones from the Arcane Society. She was also hurt by the last man she worked with. Since she's a clairaudient (she hears voices), she helped close some cold cases, but all the credit went to her partner in the police department. She thought there was more to their relationship, but he told her he was creeped out by the idea of sleeping with someone who heard voices. So ended their working relationship. Zack smartly tells her that her hearing voices turns him on, and he happens to see visions. Zack's obstacle to true love is his previous engagement to a woman planted by Nightshade. He caught her trying to poison him and thus undermined his confidence in his mirror talent (sort of anticipates things, like someone's moves in a fight). At the same time, he's been tapped to be the next Master of the Arcane Society, which makes Raine think he'll leave her so he can marry some well-bred Society woman, not the daughter of one of its most infamous ex-members.

I thought this was a great addition to the series, as the mysterious formula's background and workings are really explained, and the fight against Nightshade becomes clearer. It's confirmed that Nightshade agents on the formula must keep taking it, or they'll go insane and extra murderous, and then commit suicide. By the end of Sizzle and Burn, it seems as if the next contemporary Arcane Society book will have a lot of action (and not just of the romantic variety). I had a really good time reading this one.