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	Catherine Chant is an award-winning writer from New England. In addition to serving as the FMAM webmaster and book review coordinator, Catherine is an editor at Chippewa Publishing LLC. She is also a PRO member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA) and an active member of the From the Heart Romance Writers (FTHRW) chapter, the National Association of Women Writers (NAWW) and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). A graduate of Boston College, she worked for fifteen years at her alma mater as a computing & communications consultant/technical writer and web content manager. She is currently working on a young adult time travel romance. She can be reached at webmaster@fmam.biz.

DEADLY IMPULSE
Olga Bicos
MIRA, September 2005, $6.99, 379pp.
ISBN 0-7783-2211-4

Renowned nature photographer Clayton Chase wakes from a lightning strike to find his wife Jillian dead beside him, a bullet to the back. Clayton can't remember anything between going out to the Everglades to photograph an electrical storm and discovering Jillian's dead body. The police arrest him after the murder weapon, covered with his fingerprints, is found in a nearby dumpster and an autopsy reveals his wife was pregnant with another man's child. But a dazzling defense by Aidan Parks (Jillian's childhood sweetheart) results in a hung jury and a free man.

Jillian's wealthy father, Burton Ward, is livid that Clay got away with murder and is determined to make him pay. Burton is adamant that Clay is guilty and hires a private investigator to prove it, because he can't admit to himself that his own sordid past may have hurt his baby girl.

Psychologist Piper Jordan specializes in lightning victims after losing her husband to a lightning strike three years earlier. When Clay comes to her for therapy, Piper takes his case-against the advice of family and friends who believe he got away with murder. Those closest to Piper fear she's drawn to Clay because he survived what her husband wasn't able to. But the truth is, Piper is becoming too attached to her new patient because he has some sort of therapeutic affect on her young son who has been virtually mute since his father's death. Something about Clay brings her little boy out of his shell--something an array of experts has been unable to do for three years.

When the state attorney announces they plan to retry Clay for murder, Piper needs to decide if she's willing to stand behind him or if she should cut him loose to protect her family from a possible murderer.

What impressed me most about DEADLY IMPULSE was the full cast of well-developed characters, each with their own stake in the outcome of Clay's trial. This was not simply a tale of a man and a woman against the odds. Several storylines intersected to bring about a compelling tale of suspense. You not only follow the relationship between Piper and Clay, but also assistant state attorney Grace Calderon and her estranged husband, detective-turned-private investigator Chris; Burton Ward and his wife Jackie; and Aidan Parks and his girlfriend Shawna Benet.

Although DEADLY IMPULSE is light on romance until the last quarter of the book, the whodunit murder mystery will keep you turning the pages and moving right along with Clay and Piper as they discover the truth about Jillian's death and their feelings for each other.

Catherine Chant

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