Hidden Riches

Nora Roberts

Isadora "Dora" Conroy owns a curio shop in Philadelphia. (No one would dare call it a junk shop.) She buys trinkets, collectables, furniture, antiques, whatever catches her eye, then sells them to others who can appreciate them. Her loving, outlandish family protect her, yet let her live her life on her terms. She owns the building in Philadelphia that houses her store and her apartment. It also has an extra apartment for rent. While she is on a buying expidition, her father rents the apartment for her.

Jedediah "Jed" Skimmerhorn was a captain in the Philadelphia police department. He quit his job, moved out of his empty, family home, and looks for a place away from all he knew without leaving the city. Dora's father rents the apartment to Jed.

It is a lucky thing for Dora that she has a knowledgeable ex-cop living across the hall from her. She bought some items on the trip that were not what they seemed. Customers of items in that lot are either dying or being robbed. Dora is on the list to retrieve a china dog and a painting she has bought. When someone breaks into her store, Jed helps her chase the man away.

It does not end there, of course. Jed is a loner, from an unhappy family background. Dora is outside his experience, but draws him. Dora is honest with herself as she realizes the attraction of Jed. As a stalker keeps trying to retrieve the items she had bought, Jed rescues her more than once. As Jed tries to hide from the world, Dora keeps pulling him out. Neither know just how dangerous the adversary is.

Good, riveting book. I had high hopes when I started it, and Nora Roberts fulfilled most of those hopes. The end fell a little flat, but didn't detract from the overall tale. I also noticed that Dora's shop was resurrected in another life with a different atmosphere as Margo's, Kate's, and Laura's shop in the Daring to Dream trilogy. Since we follow the adversary throughout the book, there is no mystery. Yet the suspense is well built.

Remember When by Nora Roberts and J.D. Robb