Sidney Sheldon's Angel of the Dark

February 6, 2012
At the start of Bagshawe’s intriguing third Sidney Sheldon­ homage (after 2010’s Sidney Sheldon’s After the Darkness), police answering a domestic violence call discover Andrew Jakes, an elderly art dealer, stabbed to death and nearly decapitated in his well-secured Beverly Hills mansion. His young wife, Angela, brutally raped and traumatized, is tied to his body. Lead detective Danny McGuire falls in love with the sensuous Angela, herself a suspect, and is totally mystified when the Jakes’ fortune of $400 million is left to charity and Angela disappears. With the case becoming cold, McGuire joins Interpol and is soon investigating international cases with eerie similarities to the L.A. murder: elderly moguls are found savagely stabbed to death, their young wives raped and tied to their bodies; the money is left to charity, then the wife vanishes. A hearty sensuality and wry humor propel this energetic story, which moves from one exotic locate to another as Maguire pursues a possible serial killer. Agent: Luke Janklow, Janklow & Nesbit Associates.

December 1, 2012
A mysterious beauty and an unsolved crime are catnip a tough international detective can't resist. When LAPD detective Danny Maguire arrives at a crime scene, his life is forever changed. The brutal murder of art dealer Andrew Jakes is unconventional--some of the obvious loot is left, while a number of rare miniatures are stolen. But it's Jakes' widow, the gorgeous Angela Jakes, who gets to Maguire. Despite having been brutally raped and beaten, she is a knockout--the most beautiful woman Maguire has ever seen--and he vows to avenge her. But before he can really get to work, Angela disappears, and none of the lies she told him provide a clue. Not until years later, when Maguire has rebuilt his life in France, does the case seem to come alive again. Jakes' unacknowledged son has a lead, and soon, several seemingly copycat crimes are leading Maguire to Rome, Hong Kong and Dubai. In each case, a wealthy, elderly man is murdered, and his younger stunning wife is assaulted. Despite the geographic distribution of the attacks, there are strange similarities, and before long, Maguire is convinced he's on the trail of one demonic killer. Working from a rough outline simply called "Novel 19," Bagshawe (Sidney Sheldon's After the Darkness, 2010)--a thriller author in her own right--has fashioned a fast-paced go-get-'em that successfully melds Sheldon's signature sex and glamour with a globe-trotting thriller. Bagshawe does the franchise proud with a silly but amusing read.

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March 15, 2012
Based on notes found among the late Sheldon's papers, and written by the author of several popular novels (including two previous, Sheldon-inspired books), this melodramatic thriller begins in 1996, with the murder of a wealthy art dealer, Andrew Jakes, followed soon after by the disappearance of his beautiful and much younger widow. A decade later, the dead man's son, Matt Daley, starts looking into his father's murder and discovers that it may have been one of a string of homicides, all of them committed by a woman known only as the Angel of Death. Teaming up with the L.A. detective who originally investigated Jakes' death, Matt puts everything on the line to uncover the truth. Despite a slight overabundance of purple prose ( Surveying the carnage in front of him, Danny was aware of the In-N-Out burger he'd eaten earlier fighting its way up into his esophagus in a desperate bid for freedom ), the book has a cleverly constructed plot, some engaging characters, and a suspenseful story. Although clearly aimed at Sheldon's legion of fans, the book should appeal equally to the broader range of thriller readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)