Under the Surface

March 28, 2016
This formulaic but entertaining contemporary series starter ignores plausibility but has plenty of chemistry. Eye Candy is Eve Webber’s new nightclub, and she hopes that its success will help spur the revitalization of her East Side neighborhood in Lancaster, Pa. Smartly, she goes right to the police when an old acquaintance asks her to launder money through the club, and she agrees to set up an undercover sting. But the cops are concerned that she doesn’t have the mettle to see it through, so they assign hunky Det. Matt Dorchester to get himself hired as Eve’s new bartender, protect her, and see whether she’s got the guts to turn in her onetime friend. Eve promptly pursues Matt, and he finds her hard to resist, but he attempts to maintain a professional distance—until he doesn’t, of course. Calhoun hardly breaks new ground with the setup—a terse and closed-off undercover cop and a spunky heroine who’s upset by his lies and evasions—but the brisk plot and development of side characters (who will presumably participate in upcoming episodes) are entirely satisfying. Agent: Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary.

June 1, 2016
When Eve Webber, the owner of an East Side nightclub called Eye Candy, is approached by an old high-school flame, Lyle Murphy, to launder money for his drug business, she agrees but then reports it to the police. Unbeknownst to Emily, her new bartender, Matt Dorchester, is actually an undercover detective; sparks start to fly between them, despite their oil-and-water personalities. Eve is passionate and impulsive; Matt is formal and controlled, dedicated to supporting his disabled younger brother. Things get even more complicated once Emily learns who he really is, and danger and desire escalate, leading to a terrifically satisfying ending. This is the beginning of Calhoun's hopefully great new Alpha Ops series, which is sure to be of interest to fans of military and law-enforcement romance novels.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)