Sometimes, there’s just nothing like the romantic suspense writers who know how to write strong female characters, sexy men, and interesting settings. Heather Graham and Nora Roberts immediately come to mind. This time, it’s Heather Graham with a novel set in an Irish pub in the heart of New York City, Finnegan’s. And, everyone who loves a good Irish pub knows Finnegan’s. Unfortunately, everyone knows Finnegan’s, as Graham writes in Flawless.


Sometimes best friends and younger brothers can be trouble, as Kieran Finnegan knows. Here she is, working as a psychologist for a firm that consults with the police, spending her off-hours working in the family pub, and her best friend, Julie, and brother, Danny, hatch some stupid scheme to get back at Julie’s slimy almost ex-husband, Gary. Now, it’s up to Kieran to try to fix it, but her return to Gary’s place of employment, a jewelry store, lands her in the middle of a robbery. It also lands her on the floor of a van beneath the FBI agent who jumps in to try to save her. Craig Frasier has been working a series of robberies. The crew they catch, with Kieran’s help, seem to be harmless. But, someone with the same methods is killing witnesses at those jewelry store robberies.

While Craig Frasier fights his attraction to Kieran because she’s a witness, Kieran worries the robberies have some connection with her brothers or Finnegan’s, and she certainly doesn’t want Craig to find out why she was at the jewelry store the day of the robbery. She’s afraid to learn what her youngest brother might know. Both Craig and Kieran think the robberies have some connection to the  family pub. Now, they have to find those robbers because someone thinks Kieran knows too much.

Flawless is Graham’s typical fast-paced romantic suspense novel with attractive, interesting characters. However, not all the characters are flawless. Julie may have been a childhood friend of all the Finnegans, but she comes across as a ditz who doesn’t understand how her scheme threatens all of Kieran’s family. But, the Finnegans are a caring, charming family, and it’s a treat to read about their family relationship.

Kieran is in a difficult situation, falling for an FBI agent while trying to keep secrets to protect her family and her own actions. But, she’s a caring, hardworking woman, who deserves the romance that comes her way.

It is a treat to read about New York City. Between Kieran’s travels for work, and Danny’s passion for his job as a tour guide, there are snippets of history and tourist information in the story. The city comes to life in the book.

Excitement, suspense, romance, family, and, all surrounding an Irish pub in New York City. Heather Graham’s Flawless, except for a few characters, is almost flawless romantic suspense.

Heather Graham’s website is www.theoriginalheathergraham.com

Flawless by Heather Graham. MIRA. 2016. ISBN 9780778318811 (hardcover), 299p.

*****
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