Second book in the series is as good as the first.
Reluctant Runaway by Jill Nelson
Review:
Desiree Jacobs is due at a White House function before long, but she needs to break into an art gallery first. So on a warm September night, she’s perched on a two-foot ledge outside a window, anxious to get her hands on some Georgia O’Keefe or Grandma Moses paintings.
Stymied at her first attempts, she becomes more daring and finds herself stuck against a brick wall, thanks to a crumbling ledge. One wrong move will send her plummeting to her death on the concrete below.
All in a day’s, or in this case night’s, work for the head of HJ Securities. But before the night is over, a new case surfaces, this one that has both personal and professional ramifications.
Max, Desiree’s best friend and tech wiz at the securities firm, gets a phone call from her sister in Arizona. Max’s niece is missing and is a suspect in an art theft from the gallery she worked at, one of HJ Securities clients. Morning finds Max and Desiree flying to Albuquerque, and Tony Lucano, Desiree’s FBI agent boyfriend, heading home to Boston.
Their arrival in Albuquerque triggers a turf war at the airport. The local police want to question Max at headquarters, but are trumped by Native American officers that appear soon after. But Rosa Ortiz, FBI agent from the Albuquerque office, rescues Desi and Max from either pair of officers. But their bumpy first few minutes in New Mexico is just the beginning for the two. As the investigation widens, it becomes obvious to Desi this incident is way beyond the typical art theft.
After the loss of a fellow agent, Tony arrives in New Mexico. Soon he and Desi are caught up in a bizarre twist of events that may crush their future before it begins.
Reluctant Runaway is the second book in the To Catch A Thief Series and is as good a read as the first. Jill Nelson has created lively characters in the red-headed Texan Max, strong-headed Desiree and over-protective Tony. The tensions between Desiree and Tony keep the story moving at a good pace. It is also a book about relationships-good and bad. Relationships worth working for—Max and her husband, Desi and Tony—and those foisted upon us, through no choice of our own—like relatives. This is a book I’m passing on to a friend.
