Amanda Quick’s Tightrope is another historical romantic suspense set in the early 1930s in Burning Cove.
The book came out in May and I finally read it a few weeks ago.
I think I liked it best of the three books set in Burning Cove, and although I have a feeling this was the last one of that series, I’m kind of hoping not. I really wanted to see Luthor Pell get his own book. I’m afraid that won’t happen, though. This book felt a little like closure.
In this one, I had a hard time getting used to Amalie’s name, but I liked her, and reading the book felt like time well spent.
I miss the focus on the relationships that Quick’s books used to have, but all her books are still enjoyable. I will admit, I don’t re-read most of the newer books, but I do still revisit my Amanda Quick favorites.
Some of that might be a change in focus in the books, and some of that might just be me. These days, it does feel like it takes something really special to feel new and fresh.
Here’s the book description
Tightrope by Amanda Quick
An unconventional woman and a man shrouded in mystery walk a tightrope of desire as they race against a killer to find a top secret invention in this New York Times bestselling novel from Amanda Quick.
Former trapeze artist Amalie Vaughn moved to Burning Cove to reinvent herself, but things are not going well. After spending her entire inheritance on a mansion with the intention of turning it into a bed-and-breakfast, she learns too late that the villa is said to be cursed. When the first guest, Dr. Norman Pickwell, is murdered by his robot invention during a sold-out demonstration, rumors circulate that the curse is real.
In the chaotic aftermath of the spectacle, Amalie watches as a stranger from the audience disappears behind the curtain. When Matthias Jones reappears, he is slipping a gun into a concealed holster. It looks like the gossip that is swirling around him is true—Matthias evidently does have connections to the criminal underworld.
Matthias is on the trail of a groundbreaking prototype cipher machine. He suspects that Pickwell stole the device and planned to sell it. But now Pickwell is dead and the machine has vanished. When Matthias’s investigation leads him to Amalie’s front door, the attraction between them is intense, but she knows it is also dangerous. Amalie and Matthias must decide if they can trust each other and the passion that binds them, because time is running out.