Kill And Tell by Linda Howard

Still reeling from her mother's death, Karen Whitlaw is stunned when she receives a package containing a mysterious notebook from the father she has barely seen since his return from the Vietnam War over twenty years ago. Unwilling to deal with her overwhelming emotions, Karen packs the notebook away, putting it--and her father--out of her mind, until she receives a shocking phone call. Her father has been murdered on the gritty streets of New Orleans.

Homicide detective Marc Chastain considers the murder nothing more than street violence against a homeless man, and Karen accepts his judgment--at first. But she changes her mind when her home was burglarized and "accidents" begin to happen. All at once, she faces a chilling realization: whoever killed her father is now after her. Desperate for answers, Karen receives the only thing that links her to her father--the notebook he had sent months before. Inside its worn pages, she makes an unsettling discovery: her father had been a sniper in Vietnam and the notebook contains a detailed account of each one of his kills.

Now running for her life, Karen entrusts the book and its secrets to Marc Chastain. Together they unravel a disturbing story of politics, power, and murder--and face a killer who will stop at nothing to get his hands on the kill book.


LH is one of the rare authors out there who always manages to put in the right ingredients to cook up the perfect hero. And that's why this book is one of my favorite reread--much of my fave rereads are by LH, if you ask me. It's all because of those all too sexy heroes of hers. Marc Chastain is certainly among them--Marc with a C is already as sexy as hell and the rest of the character followed, thank goodness.

This book is actually one of LH's fast-paced and darker works, and I had no choice but to love it to bits. Marc Chastain and Karen Whitlaw had an amazing chemistry. The first time I really dug Marc was when he realized that Karen wasn't really the bitch he first thought she was. I love it when men get proven wrong. And Karen was one kick-ass heroine as well. She survived the many attempts on her life--including that one attack in her apartment wherein only a can of deo saved her. I'd be in a total freak-out mode had I been in her place. She's some lady that's why I forgive her for nabbing Marc in the end.

Now, if LH can make the most memorable heroes, she can also create the worst of villains. Here's another one for the books: Senator Lake might not be the most evil in the lot but the ones who commit familial crimes are, for me, the most twisted of all.

I'd probably read this book again before I put it back with the rest of my LH stash. If you're looking for a good read on the lust-at-first-sight, love-on-the-second plot (so it wasn't really during their second meeting that Marc fell for her but ya know what I mean), you must give this book a try.

Final verdict: 8/10. Great read, must-have.