New York State - the Present

Two weeks before the Christmas she was nine, Grace Martin saw her parents, Carl and Sherry Martin, murdered just before she was kidnapped and held in a box until she was rescued by her father's best friend, Nicholas O'Connor. Both men were cops.

Instead of going to her father's sister, Delores, and her husband, Ted, Grace went to live with Nicholas and his wife, Leeann. They had a daughter named May, and Grace loved her like a little sister. When she grew up, Grace became a lawyer and moved to Las Vegas. But she soon decided to follow her heart and become a cop like her father and Nicholas.

Trouble on a case in Vegas made her leave her life there and move back to New York. Her reputation as a by-the-book detective has brought her admirers, and those who would like for her to just go away. Several young women have disappeared. When a body is found, there is evidence of torture and starvation. Grace vows that she will find the monster who is killing them.

Lieutenant Max Mathews might have something to say about that. When he meets Grace he would like nothing more than to keep her out of harm's way. Neither is looking for a relationship, but love finds them and they cannot deny each other. They will both need all their instincts and wits to track the man with no conscience whom many call the Master.

Several detectives, Lupine, Johnson, and Jones among them; Commander Don Nikko; Jerry Hughes; Celina Marquette and her parents; Mary Chloe; D. A. Johnny Lewis; Larry Feldman, and others help and hinder Grace and Max as they uncover a world of kidnapped women sold as sex slaves and the rich men who buy them. It is a world of drugs, torture, and degradation. I cried at some of the descriptions, although I do know that such things exist. GRACE is a story of intensely driven characters, tension, danger, friendship, betrayal, loyalty, secrets and, best of all, love. Laura Marie Henion has established herself as a talented writer who can pull tight the wires of apprehension and suspense and not let them loose until the killer is revealed. It is a keeper that I recommend.

Vi Janaway