Amanda Quick, also known as Jayne Ann Krentz is one of my favorite authors. She continues to entertain with her second novel in Hollywood Heyday romantic suspense series. “The Other Lady Vanishes” brings us back to Burning Cove introducing as to waitress, Adelaide, an escapee from an insane asylum and her customer, LA businessman, Jake Truitt.
Adelaide blends teas for a local tea shop, creating specialty teas for the Hollywood set who come to relax in the town of Burning Cove. When psychic to the star predicts a death, it begins a series of deaths and destruction that throws Adelaide and Jake together. Are they just using each other to solve their own personal mysteries or will their attraction to each other develop into something more?
Adelaide discovers she is stronger than she believed as she saves Jake and over comes her fears. Together they unravel the tapestry of duplicity but will they be able to stop the con artists and drug dealers who are preying on glamorous Hollywood set.
Amanda Quick’s characters are unique, strong and flawed but it is often their flaws that gives them their strength. The love story is beautifully woven like a golden thread through the shadows of suspense and the brightness of the action. She keeps the setting true to the era, using the backdrop of time and place to add another layer to the intrigue and enlightenment of the story. I can’t resist reading or listening to any story by Amanda/Jayne Ann but I’ve truly enjoyed this romp through Hollywood’s heyday. If you like history, romance, a good mystery and suspense, then you need to read “The Other Lady Vanishes,” or any of her other intriguing novels.
