[New Orleans PD 02] • Glass Houses

**Our Review**

**A Passionate Parable of Peril**

In league with the likes of Tami Hoag and Linda Howard, Stella Cameron is one of the world's most popular writers of romantic suspense. Cameron continues the thrills with her latest parable of peril, *Glass Houses,* a hot little number with a cold-blooded killer.

London photographer Olivia FitzDurham gets what seems to be a plum assignment. She has been hired by an interior decorator who is doing a feature for a trendy magazine on the remodeling of a home in Notting Hill. Olivia's glee is short-lived, however, when a man claiming to be from the magazine contacts her, offering a kill fee in return for the negatives and all copies of the shots she has taken. At first Olivia agrees, but then, thinking it an odd offer, she calls the magazine back, only to discover that they were not the ones who contacted her. After a hair-raising episode in the subway with the man who did contact her, Olivia fears the term "kill fee" may be taken more literally than she would like.

Back in New York, police detective Aiden Flynn is house-sitting for his fellow copper, Ryan Hill. Never a big fan of Ryan's, Aiden can't resist snooping in the guy's email, where he discovers some curious exchanges with a London woman named Olivia. It seems that Hill has been leading the woman on, pretending to be someone he's not and encouraging her confidences, calling himself Sam and claiming to be an FBI agent. When Aiden reads a new email from Olivia describing the funny business with the photos and her idea of fleeing London, he decides to take over and impersonate Ryan's character himself.

Fearing for her life and knowing her pictures contain something that someone wants very badly, Olivia heads for New York City and the person she thinks is her Internet friend, Sam, who has promised to help and protect her. It is actually Aiden who meets her, and while he isn't sure just what is going on, he has gleaned enough to know that Ryan is up to no good. Aiden's subterfuge as Sam doesn't last long, and once Ryan realizes he's been duped, he frames Aiden and sets out after him and Olivia, intent on killing them both. By the time Olivia learns the truth, she and Aiden are on the run from several killers as well as the law, and their close quarters and dire circumstances serve as sparks to ignite a fire of passion between them.

Olivia, whose naïve determination and fish-out-of-water innocence provide some awkward but funny moments, gives the story a pleasingly light touch. A couple of argumentative and bumbling criminals provide some comic relief as well. On the serious side, the calculating coldness of Ryan Hill generates more than a few spinal chills. However, between Olivia and Aiden's liaisons and those of a certain criminal femme fatale, Cameron also manages to generate plenty of heat.

*--Beth Amos*

*Beth Amos is the author of several novels, including * [Second Sight](http://cart2.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?isbn=0061012882), Eyes of Night, *and* [Cold White Fury](http://cart2.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?isbn=0061010057).

The novels of New York Times bestselling author Stella Cameron have touched millions of readers, time and time again, Now, in "Glass Houses", the mistress of romantic suspense spins a passionate, perilous tale for today -- one that begins in the murky, anonymous depths of the Internet, and culminates in a dizzying, breathless chase across the Atlantic.British photographer Olivia FitzDurham is running for her life -- all the way to New York City and a man she's never met. The pictures she took for a London magazine seem harmless, but the man who tried to push her off the tube platform definitely meant business.

NYPD detective Aiden Flynn isn't the "Sam" Olivia thinks she met online, but he suspects that the man who is poses a real threat to Olivia's safety -- as well as his own.

Suddenly, Olivia and Aiden are the targets in a dangerous game that will take them across the country and the Atlantic. On the run from a ring of thieves desperate for Olivia's incriminating photos, the two strangers must work together to clear their names -- and escape with their lives.