One Last Look

October 3, 2005
Miller concludes her bestselling romantic suspense trilogy (Don't Look Now
; Never Look Back
) with more slick sleuthing featuring blunt, resourceful attorney Clare Westbrook and her fiancé, homicide detective Tony Sonterra. After a string of personal and professional troubles, Clare, four months pregnant and desperate for peace and quiet, leaves Phoenix and follows Sonterra to the Arizona hill town of Dry Creek, where he is to be sworn in as police chief. But the small town turns dangerous when a mysterious driver viciously totals Clare's Escalade. Sonterra tries to keep track of an immigrant-smuggling ring of coyotes, and Dry Creek's secrets slowly begin to reveal themselves. Clare takes a job with the shady county prosecutor just as a case of domestic abuse escalates to murder and a child goes missing, sending her snooping around a local trailer park and a gossipy book club for clues. Clare and Sonterra survive several more violent attempts to scare them off, including gunshots that turn their wedding day into a bloodbath, but the daring duo manage to make it all in a day's work, including a revelation about Clare's family lineage. Miller delivers a serviceable and mostly engaging windup to the three-part series, complete with a happily-ever-after ending.