Elizabeth Adler's From Barcelona, with Love (#93) reminds of the books I loved when I first began to read "grown up" books. It has the feel of the old romantic suspense novels with the exotic settings and the wealthy, fashionable characters involved that I loved so much - only with descriptions of lingerie and sex thrown in. (You never would have found that in a Harlequin romance when I was growing up!)
Bibi Fortunata, celebrity singer/songwriter/performer, was accused of murdering her lover and his girlfriend who was also, coincidentally, Bibi's best friend. The police couldn't find enough evidence to indict her and she subsequently disappeared, leaving her estranged husband and young daughter Paloma behind.
Fast forward two years, and Paloma stakes out Mac Reilly, private investigator and TV reality show host at his Malibu beach house. Paloma is staying up the beach with her aunt Jazzy with whom she's now living. She wants to ask Mac to find her mother, but can't think of a way to do it until fate intervenes and Mac and Sunny Alvarez come to Paloma's rescue. When Mac makes the connection between Paloma and Bibi Fortunata because of their unique looks, he's ready to help Paloma if she ever asks. Whatever did happen to Bibi, and why would a devoted mother leave her only child behind? It's finally Paloma's family in Barcelona that urgently requests Mac's help to solve this case. In the meantime, he and Sunny have a wedding to prepare for - there have been a few bumps along the way in their previous appearances in Ms. Adler's books. Will they make it to the altar this time? You'll have to read From Barcelona, with Love to find out.
Talk about setting a mood! This book sure makes me want to pay a visit to Tapas, our Latin fusion restaurant in town, and sample some of their fabulous paella!
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