Slow Dance

Set in the lush and lusty environs of South Carolina, Julian's latest romantic thriller (after Sins, written as Jillian Grey) is populated with characters who promise more than they deliver. The sudden death of Lily Hutton's mother, Sara, who had been institutionalized since stabbing Lily's father 15 years ago, brings Lily back to Rosehill, where she was born and raised. Just before her mother's death, Lily received an ominous telephone call suggesting Sara's innocence. Convinced that the caller was her mother, who had not spoken since the crime, Lily decides to stay on in Rosehill after the funeral to clear up the mystery surrounding her parents' deaths. But coaxing information from the townsfolk is an impossible task; no one is talking--including enigmatic Sash Rivers, who may have witnessed the murder. Although Rosehill's nervous residents would prefer that Lily stop asking questions and leave town, she can't--leaving would mean she'd have to ``accept that there aren't really any happily-ever-afters and that good guys don't always win.'' Aptly titled, the book feels like a slow dance--one with an unfortunately uninspired partner. (Dec.)