Angels Fall

Nora Roberts

Reece is on the road and on the run - from herself and her memories. The signs lead her to Angel's Fist, a small town in the Grand Tetons near Jackson Hole in Wyoming. A sign in the diner window advertises for a cook. She is a cordon bleu cheft who hasn't worked at cooking in two years. Maybe now is the time. She decides to try it for a day or two. She's almost out of cash and has to find a job anyway.

The townspeople in Angel's Fish draw her right into their midst without knowing anything about her other than she is secretive and skittish. She's happy cooking again. After a few days she checks out of the hotel and rents the room above the diner. She can leave any time she wants. In the meantime, she has fallen in love with the Grand Tetons. She likes the local people. But she's still jittery. She accidentally hikes onto Brody's property. He is from Chicago and has chosen a secluded spot because he's a mystery writer. When a car backfires Reece hits the ground.

Later she is hiking up over the Snake River Canyon. She passes Brody on her way up. While looking over the woderful view, she looks across the river with her binoculars. There she see a couple fighting. She watches as the woman screams at the man, falls, and he falls on her. He then strangles her to death.She runs down, gets Brody, and brings him back up. The man and woman are gone. They go down the mountain and report what Reece saw to the sheriff. When the sheriff reaches the spot on the other side of the river there is no sign that anyone had been there at all, let alone killed there. Is Reece a victim yet again? She's afraid she is slipping back into the mental illness after her last encounter with violence. The only reason she is able to hang onto her sanity is Brody's belief in her. But when things start happening that she doesn't remember doing, his support may not be enough.

And again Nora Roberts pulled me right into her created world. I could feel the Grand Tetons around me and see the nature although I've never been there. I was able to understand Reece's neuroses and her reactions to the people around her that are only trying to show her kindness. And the mystery is good, too.

In a novel like this you know that the killer is going to be one of the regular characters. Reece knows from the beginning that it can't be Brody because he was near her, not across the river when she saw the murder. But after that, anyone in the town of Angel's Fist could be suspect. Roberts gives enough characters opportunity that the reader has to wait until near the end to discover what is happening. The clues are there, but I was rushing through too fast to really catch them. I just wanted to know what was going to happen?

I also like the side story in Angels Fall with Reece's new friend Linda-gail and the town Lothario. The romances in the novel are obvious yet satisfying. The mystery is suspensful and keeps the reader pulled in.

Notice: Non-graphic violence, Strong sexual content

Blue Smoke by Nora Roberts