Hot in the City

In this charming novella, a heat wave in Boston competes with the scorching attraction between the protagonists. Det. Brian MacGregor needs to find Sara Murphy, a potential witness to a gang murder; instead he finds her cousin, the ER doctor who treated him a few weeks earlier. Priya Shah has spent her adult life repaying Sara for taking the blame for a teenage indiscretion and will do whatever she can to protect her, even if it means losing the attractive detective. The connection between Priya and Brian is immediate and believable, as are the internal and external pressures driving them apart. The constraints of the shorter format showcase the core of the story; Court (Guarding Her Heart) cleverly combines deep character development, cultural expectations, and family tensions with the thrill of Priya and Brian’s searches for Sara, all without sacrificing plot, relationship, or emotional realism. The reader will fall for Brian and Priya as quickly as they fall for each other. (Mar.)